Introducing the Theorists
Marilyn E. Parker is a professor at the Christine E.
Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic
University, where she is founding director of the
Quantum Foundation Center for Innovation in
School and Community Well-Being. She earned de-
grees from Incarnate Word College (BSN), the
Catholic University of America (MSN), and Kansas
State University (PhD). Her overall career mission
is to enhance nursing practice and education
through nursing theory, using both innovative and
traditional means to improve care and advance the
discipline.
As principal investigator for a program of grants
to create and use a new Community Nursing
Practice Model, Dr. Parker has provided leadership
to develop transdisciplinary school-based wellness
centers devoted to health and social services for
children and families from underserved multicul-
tural communities, teaching university students
from several disciplines, and developing research
and policy to promote community well-being. In
2002, Dr. Parker received the President’s Leadership
Award at Florida Atlantic University, recognizing
exemplary service to the university and to the
community.
Dr. Parker’s active participation in nursing edu-
cation and health care in several countries led to
her 2001 Fulbright Scholar Award to Thailand. It is
there that she continues to teach, consult, and par-
ticipate in research with Thai colleagues in devel-
oping a Thai nursing practice model based on
perspectives of practicing nursing in Thailand.
Her commitment to caring for underserved popu-
lations and to health policy evaluation led to
being named a National Public Health Leadership
Institute Fellow and to being elected a distin-
guished practitioner in the National Academies of
Practice—Nursing. Dr. Parker is a fellow in the
American Academy of Nursing.
Charlotte D. Barry is an associate professor and
associate director at the Quantum Foundation
Center for Innovation in School and Community
Well-Being at the Florida Atlantic University
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing. Dr. Barry
serves on the Education Committee of the National
Association of School Nurses. She has been active
in the Florida Association of School Nurses since
1996 and has served as president, treasurer, and
board member. Taking the lead with school nursing
education in Florida, she has developed academic
courses that have been conducted online as well
as in the classroom. One course has been adapted
to a continuing education (CE) program prepar-
ing school nurses for national certification.
Workshops have been developed and conducted on
critical thinking and competency skills for school
nurses.
The focus of Dr. Barry’s scholarship and teach-
ing has been caring for persons in schools and
communities. Her writings include nursing values,
inquiry groups for community assessments, and
cultural caring. Her current research includes
the study of adiposity in children, health-care
provider’s cultural competence, and multisite
studies with school nurses throughout Florida.
Dr. Barry has had leadership roles in many
organizations, including the International Associa-
tion of Human Caring (IAHC). She attended her
first IAHC conference in Texas in the early ’90s and
during a poetry workshop became inspired to write
a poem entitled “I Am Nurse.” Since that time she
has been an active member of IAHC, holding
various leadership positions, and has served as a
manuscript reviewer for the International Journal
of Human Caring.
Dr. Barry graduated from Brooklyn College
where she earned an associate degree in nursing;
she holds a bachelor’s degree in health administra-
tion, a master’s degree in nursing from Florida
Atlantic University in Boca Raton, and a doctoral
degree from the University of Miami, Florida. She
is nationally certified in school nursing.Developing a Community
Nursing Practice Model:
The Ideal and the PracticalDeveloping the Community Nursing Practice
Model described herein began with, and continues
to be a blend of, the ideal and the practical. The ideal
was the commitment of one of the authors to devel-
oping and using nursing concepts to guide nursing
practice, education, and scholarship, and of a desire
to develop a nursing practice as an essential compo-
nent of a nursing college. The practical was the
added commitment of the other author in bringing
this model to life. The added efforts of faculty, staff
and students contributed to the development model
intended to reflect the concept of nursing held by
the faculty of nursing,nursing is nurturing wholeness390 SECTION IV Nursing Theory: Illustrating Processes of Development