Free Program On Controversial Nurse Leader

DANBURY — Dr Carol Avery, an associate nursing professor at Western Connecticut State University, will host a free screening this month of her recently produced video about often-controversial and internationally known nurse leader Dr Luther Christman.

“A Conversation with Luther” will be presented during a reception at 7:30 pm on Monday, November 19, in the Student Center Auditorium on WestConn’s Midtown campus, 181 White Street. The public is invited to attend.

“Dr Christman and his work make for an interesting subject because nursing is predominantly a woman’s field,” Dr Avery said. “As one of the few men in nursing, Dr Christman is able to discuss prejudice against men in nursing and discuss how that prejudice affected him in his education and career.”

Dr Christman, a Tennessee resident who is now in his 80s, is expected to attend the reception and discuss the video’s content. Copies of the video will be sold for $15, with the proceeds to benefit the education foundation of the American Assembly for Men in Nursing, the international nursing organization Christman founded. A video signing is scheduled.

Dr Avery produced the video while on sabbatical leave from WestConn; a Connecticut State University grant partially funded the production. After a peer review of the video by the American Assembly for Men in Nursing, Dr Avery was invited to present it on November 30 during the group’s annual national convention at the University of Texas.

The video includes a brief biography of Dr Christman, his stories about prejudice against men in nursing and his predictions about the future of the profession. Dr Christmas is an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University and dean emeritus at Rush University. His professional experience dates back to 1939, when he started as a private duty nurse at Pennsylvania Hospital, and includes stints as the director of nursing at Vanderbilt University Hospital and as the vice president of nursing affairs at Rush University.

Dr Christman graduated from the Pennsylvania School of Nursing for Men. He earned a bachelor’s in nursing and a master’s in clinical psychology from Temple University. He earned his doctoral degree in sociology and anthropology from Michigan State University

For more information, call the WestConn nursing department at 837-8556.