Ann Kolanowski, professor of nursing, has been appointed Elouise Ross Eberly professor of nursing at Penn State.
Kolanowski's research is focused on improving the lives of people with dementia by studying the causes of, and interventions for, behavioral symptoms that accompany these illnesses. She has made more than 50 presentations, authored or co-authored nearly 100 abstracts, articles and book chapters and received funding from the National Institute of Nursing Research and other national organizations in support of her research. She currently sits on the editorial review panels of Research in Nursing and Health, Applied Nursing Research, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, Journal of Gerontological Nursing and Nursing and Health Sciences and is a grant reviewer for the National Alzheimer's Association. Kolanowski's practice initiatives have been adopted by the American Therapeutic Recreation Association and incorporated into national practice guidelines for the care of persons with dementia.
Kolanowski is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the Gerontological Society of America and previously received the Spirit of Nursing Award from the Georgia Nurses Association, the Distinguished Colleague Award from the Pennsylvania Higher Education in Nursing Schools, the Fran and Holly Soistman Faculty Development Award in the College of Health and Human Development and the John A. Hartford Geriatric Nursing Research Award. In addition to her responsibilities at Penn State, Kolanowski serves as a visiting professor for the Medical College of Georgia.
In 1994, the Eberly Foundation endowed two professorships in the School of Nursing, one at University Park and one at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus. The professorships are named in recognition of Elouise Ross Eberly, a graduate of the Uniontown Hospital registered nurse program and wife of the late Robert E. Eberly, a Penn State graduate of the class of 1939.