About 200 former NIU graduates and graduating seniors are expected to attend the opening of the 11th Annual Nursing Research Day.

The program offers a chance for researchers’ work to be recognized. It will be held at the Holmes Student Center’s Sandburg Auditorium at 8:45 p.m. on Monday.

Karen Martin will open the event called “Nursing Scholars in Action” with her keynote speech, “Research in the Practice Setting: And You Expect Me to Participate?”

“Martin will be speaking on the Omaha system, which is a system for community health care delivery, which is nationally recognized and very innovative,” said Donna Rane-Szostak, director of the NIU School of Nursing.

“This day is done in cooperation with the local chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, which is a national Nursing Honor Society. It is a day where one has an opportunity to ‘showcase,'” she said. “Nursing researchers from all over the country submit abstracts, which are reviewed and selected for presentation.

“Our school has been seeking federal funding to establish a nursing center,” she said. “If we succeed, such a center will be modeled by Omaha’s system. That’s why it is important for us to hear from the author of the system.”

The NIU School of Nursing is among the top nursing schools nationwide.

“Not only will the research day present an opportunity to see what is happening in the field of nursing research, but also many of our graduates view this as an opportunity to come back and see their colleagues and share what they’re doing with each other,” she said.

The program will continue at noon with a luncheon in the Sky Room. The speakers are NIU Provost J. Carroll Moody, Jerrold Zar, dean of NIU’s Graduate School, and James Lankford, dean of the College of Professional Studies. NIU’s Graduate Colloquium Committee will be held in the afternoon.

The conference is also sponsored by NIU’s Graduate Colloquium Committee and NIU’s chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, a nursing honorary society.

“Although we encourage advance registration, everyone may be able to register at 8 a.m. on April 19,” she said.

The opening event is free. The registration fee for other events is $35 for Sigma Theta Tau members and NIU affiliates, and $45 for nonaffiliated participants.