Professor honored for achievements and contributions to nursing

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Seton Hall University professor Phyllis Shanley Hansell, of Montclair, recently received the prestigious R. Louise McManus Medal. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the Columbia University Nursing Education Alumni Association and was awarded to Hansell for her many scholarly achievements and many distinguished contributions that have advanced the nursing profession.

The McManus Medal was named after the first nurse to a earn a Ph.D. in the field of nursing, who created the Institute for Nursing Research at Columbia University and developed a Patient Bill of Rights. The award was presented at the 55th annual Isabel Maitland Stewart Conference on May 4 in the Milbank Chapel at Columbia University.

Previously, Hansell received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Research and Scholarship from Columbia University, Nursing Alumni, and was inducted into the university’s Nursing Hall of Fame. Hansell served as the dean of the Seton Hall University College of Nursing for 15 years. A tenured faculty member for more than three decades at the university, she serves as professor in the College of Nursing Graduate Department. Previously she served as the director of nursing research at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York.

Hansell is internationally recognized for her research on women and children with life-threatening illnesses, including cancer and HIV/AIDS. Her research has been funded by the National Institute for Nursing Research and the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Currently she serves as an ambassador for Friends of the National Institute for Nursing Research, and as a commissioner for the NJ State Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund Commission in the Governor’s Office.

Among her numerous accomplishments, Hansell is a past recipient of the Bishop Bernard McQuaid Medal for Distinguished University Service at Seton Hall. She is also a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and fellow and distinguished practitioner in the National Academies of Practice.

  Seton Hall University