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  1. Section Editor(s): Chinn, Peggy L. PhD, RN, FAAN
  2. Editor

Article Content

A World Without Boundaries

Given the success of the 2021 Virtual Nursing Theory Week, the nursing theory conference planning team, led by Leslie H. Nicoll, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN, has determined that the annual conference will continue with a hybrid format. Each year we will identify a local site-college or university-with a rich history related to the development of nursing knowledge. The scholars at that site will be responsible for a plenary virtual session that highlights the site's nursing theory history, as well as local social and networking activities, for faculty and students in the geographic area and others who might travel to the site. This plan makes the conference accessible to nurse scholars and students worldwide and, importantly, keeps the expense of the conference to a minimum!

 

The 2022 virtual conference will be held over 5 days-March 17-21. The local site will be the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Nursing, the undergraduate home of nurse theorist Margaret Newman and now the home of the Margaret Newman Center. The conference theme draws on Dr Newman's 2003 Advances in Nursing Science (ANS) article, titled "A World of No Boundaries" (ANS. 2003;26(4):240-245. https://doi.org/10.1097/00012272-200310000-00002).

 

There will be 3 general sessions-the first featuring the life and work of Margaret Newman. Mid-conference general session is designed and presented by early career nursing scholars. The final general session features information related to the 2023 geographic center for the conference-the greater Los Angeles area and the many colleges and universities in that area with rich histories related to nursing knowledge development. The remaining scholarly sessions will feature 50 of the abstracts submitted for the conference-all in dedicated Zoom sessions. The end of each day will provide opportunities for networking and discussion-a 1-hour "daily discussion."

 

The importance of this and other nursing theory-related events cannot be overestimated. The Annual Nursing Theory conference organizers have established a clear commitment to support and nurture the work of students and early career scholars who hold in their hands the future of the discipline. The conference will be a living dialectic-on one hand honoring the foundations of the discipline and ideas with a long tradition, and on the other taking in new ideas and perspectives that challenge the status quo. We anticipate lively discussion of ideas-many of which may be controversial and hotly debated. Watch the Nursing Theory Conference website-https://nursingtheoryconference.com/-for detailed information about the program and registration! Hope to see many ANS readers there!

 

-Peggy L. Chinn, PhD, RN, FAAN

 

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