ECU nursing faculty member elected to governing board for Southern Nursing Research Society

GREENVILLE, N.C.  —   Dr. Martha Raile Alligood, professor and director of the doctoral program in the East Carolina University School of Nursing, has been elected to the governing board of the Southern Nursing Research Society.

Alligood will serve a two-year term as a member-at-large on the eight-member governing body. Her term begins Feb. 24 and runs through February 2009.

The society’s mission is to advance nursing research, promote dissemination and use of research findings, facilitate the career development of nurses and nursing students as researchers, enhance communication among members and promote the image of nursing as a scientific discipline.

The Southern Nursing Research Society was founded in 1986 representing the following 14 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. In 1991, the boundaries were expanded to include the Caribbean, Latin America and the Bahamas.

Alligood was honored by the society in February 2006 when she received the Leadership in Nursing Research Award.

Alligood’s research has focused on theories of adult human development and nursing empathy. Her work has been published in more than eight professional nursing journals and book chapters.

In addition to her own research, Alligood has supervised 12 dissertations and served on dissertation committees in nursing and related disciplines and has had eight refereed publications with graduate students. She also has co-edited two nursing theory textbooks that have been printed in nine languages including English.

Alligood earned her nursing diploma from the Good Samaritan School of Nursing in Zanesville, Ohio, a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Virginia, a master’s degree in nursing from Ohio State University and her doctorate from New York University. She joined the ECU School of Nursing in August 2004. She lives in Chocowinity.