Jennifer Laurent, Ph.D, APRN was invested as the inaugural holder of the Holly D. and Robert E. Miller Green and Gold Professorship in Nursing Research, and Mary Val Palumbo, D.N.P., APRN was named the inaugural holder of the Holly D. and Robert E. Miller Green and Gold Professorship in Nursing Workforce Research in a rare double investiture ceremony hosted by the College of Nursing and Health Sciences on December 15.
The two endowed faculty positions are part of the latest expression of the generosity and commitment of the late Bob Miller and his wife, Holly Miller, to improving the healthcare experience for patients and their families and to supporting the education, research, and clinical missions of the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences, UVM Larner College of Medicine, and the UVM Medical Center.
Led by College of Nursing and Health Sciences Dean Noma Anderson, with remarks by UVM Provost and Senior Vice President Patricia Prelock and Nursing Department Chair Rosemary Dale, the investiture ceremony included special guests Tim Miller and his daughter Sarah Plunkett, a graduate of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences; Dr. Sunil “Sunny” Eappen, the new CEO of the UVM Health Network; Dr. Stephen Leffler, President and Chief Operating Officer of the UVM Medical Center; Dr. Rick Page, Dean of the Larner College of Medicine; and Ginger Lubkowitz, Chief Development Officer of UVM Academic Health Sciences.
Jennifer Laurent, Ph.D., APRN, Holly D. and Robert E. Miller Green and Gold Professor of Nursing Research
Dr. Jennifer Laurent was commended for her dedication to understanding the neurobiological basis of pediatric obesity. A board-certified family nurse practitioner with more than 20 years of experience in primary care, Laurent joined the faculty in the Department of Nursing in 2011. She is vice-chair of nursing and director of nursing graduate programs.
Laurent’s research has been funded by the USDA, University of Vermont’s GUND Institute for Environment and further supported through RiseVT. Her work has been widely published in journals including Applied Nursing Research, Journal of Pediatric Health Care, Childhood Obesity, JAMA Pediatrics, Nature Neuroscience, Public Health Nursing, and Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.
Laurent is a member of the faculty practice at Appletree Bay Primary Care and serves as associate director for the UVM Committee on Health and Behavioral Research Institutional Review Board. She developed the Equity, Inclusion and Professionalism Committee in the Department of Nursing and led the Nursing Department’s transition to holistic graduate admissions, a university admissions strategy that assesses an applicant's unique experiences alongside traditional measures of academic achievement such as grades and test scores.
“Dr. Laurent has demonstrated what is frequently deemed as an impossible goal in academia: she has hit the trifecta with excellence in practice, scholarship and teaching,” said Dale in her remarks.
Laurent also serves as chair of the Vermont Board of Nursing. She was elected to the Leadership Succession Committee of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and is an American Association of Colleges of Nursing Elevating Nurses in Academic Leadership Fellow.
Mary Val Palumbo, D.N.P. APRN, Holly D. and Robert E. Miller Green and Gold Professor of Nursing Workforce Research
Dr. Mary Val Palumbo has dedicated her career to guiding nursing workforce development for the State of Vermont. For more than two decades, she has researched nursing workforce issues related to health policy, nursing education, challenges of the aging workforce, and the provision of health care to an aging society.
Palumbo joined the faculty in the Department of Nursing in 1988. She is Director of Interprofessional Education for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and has directed the Vermont Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Nursing Workforce, Research, Planning and Development initiative, through which she began collecting data in the 1980s to predict nursing needs in the state of Vermont that is used today for nursing workforce planning.
“I have seldom met anyone who was more creative and nimbler in responding to the healthcare needs of the time and reinventing herself to meet those needs,” said Dale.
Palumbo’s research has been funded by numerous agencies, including the Vermont Department of Aging and Independent Living, Robert Wood Johnson/AARP, Vermont Agency of Health and Human Services, HRSA, Vermont Health Department, Vermont Department of Employment and Training, and the Frymoyer Scholars Program. She has published 40 articles since 2000 and given 96 peer-reviewed professional presentations, locally, nationally, and internationally. She has received several awards for nursing and for nursing research.
She has served on the UVM Professional Standards Committee, Department of Nursing Graduate Education and Search Committees, Center for Aging Faculty Advisory Board, and AHEC Advisory Board, as well as the UVM President’s Commission on Racial Diversity.
Palumbo is a geriatric nurse practitioner at the University of Vermont Medical Center Memory Program.
Appointment to an endowed position is among the highest academic honors the University of Vermont can bestow on a faculty member. Endowed chairs and professorships allow the University to recognize and celebrate academic achievement and further encourage scholarly and service excellence. Endowed faculty positions are a tribute to the holder and permanent legacies for the donors who establish them.
A Legacy of Giving
The Millers’ generosity was built on a passion for service and dedication to the community. Holly Miller has long been a leading advocate in the areas of nursing and end-of-life care and has worked tirelessly to advance the causes with many local and regional organizations. The College of Nursing and Health Sciences Advisory Board, the Vermont Palliative Care Collaborative, the Madison-Deane Initiative to advance public understanding of end-of-life care, the Vermont Respite House, the Visiting Nurses Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties, the UVM Medical Center Foundation, and Champlain College have all benefitted from Holly’s skills, expertise and desire to make a difference. Bob Miller, who passed away in February 2020, played a crucial role in the region's economic health for decades as founder and owner of REM Development, Northern Vermont’s largest developer and lessor of commercial real estate. He also served as the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce director and chair of the Airport Commission at Burlington International Airport.
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Fundraising for the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences is a major focus for the University of Vermont Foundation, a nonprofit corporation established to secure and manage private support for the benefit of the University of Vermont. To inquire about making a gift to the College, contact Deb Dever at Deborah.Dever@med.uvm.edu. More information about the impact of donors like Holly and Bob Miller and the work of the UVM Foundation can be found at www.uvmfoundation.org.