Nursing students had a chance to see another side of their school dean Thursday as they shared finger foods and conversation at Dean Afaf Meleis' Center City row home.
About 15 Nursing students spent two and a half hours lounging in Meleis' living room. Paintings and figurines from around the world decorated the room's walls and tables.
"This is a fireside chat," Meleis said as she motioned to the candles lit around the room.
"I love to spend time with students and hearing what they have to say," she added.
Christine Mayor, who, as a "second degree" nursing student has returned to Penn to get another degree, described the meeting as "intimate."
"When you bridge the gap between students and faculty ... it really takes students to another level," Mayor said.
The students and Meleis discussed topics that ranged from from foreign students' experiences with nursing to the lack of interaction among Nursing students of different years.
"This is your opportunity to open any topic you want ... and I can share with you what's on my mind, too," Meleis said.
Visiting Nursing scholar Naomi Seboni from the University of Botswana attended as well and shared stories about nursing in Africa.
Many were interested in what foreign students planned to do when they return to their home countries after completing their nursing degrees at Penn.
Nursing graduate student Karen Koh said that she plans to help implement a more in-depth nurse-training program in her native Singapore, which she said lacks quality health care.
"The pay is very pathetic. People go into nursing because they have no choice, or they really like nursing, like me," Koh said.
Meleis said that she expects Koh and other current Nursing students to have influential roles in changing health care systems worldwide.
But students aren't the School of Nursing's only pioneers.
Meleis said that she is the first of Penn's deans to have her own Web log.
"It's a way of telling [Nursing students] what's on my mind," she said.
After discussing how she hopes to improve her communication with students through her blog, Meleis encouraged students to share their thoughts on what areas of the Nursing School could use improvement.
"There needs to be more of a community" in the Nursing School, Nursing student Justine Llop said.
Nursing freshman Kathleen Downes said she finds few opportunities to mingle with other classes.
Meleis said that the Nursing Education Building, which lacks an area where students can mingle, has a lot to do with the Nursing School's lack of community.
But current renovations, which are set to be completed in the fall, should encourage more interaction. The new building will have an Internet cafe in which students can meet.
Students also had a chance to voice what they appreciate about the Nursing School.
Llop said she enjoys the attention Nursing students receive from the school's advising system.
"Penn is amazing at listening to students," she said.
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