Two UF nursing faculty honored for excellence by the Florida Nurses Association

Two faculty members from the University of Florida College of Nursing were honored by the Florida Nurses Association with 2002 Nursing Excellence Awards.

Martha Snider, Ed.D., R.N., an associate professor, and Carolyn Yucha, Ph.D., R.N., a professor and the college’s associate dean for research, were part of a group of 35 nurses from around the state chosen and recognized by their colleagues for their significant achievements.

The inaugural Nursing Excellence awards were presented at the association’s Professional Nurses Summit in September. Snider was recognized for excellence as a nursing educator, and Yucha was recognized as an outstanding nursing researcher.

Snider, a faculty member with the College of Nursing for 37 years, teaches courses at both the baccalaureate and graduate levels in psychiatric/mental health, professional socialization and ethics in nursing. In the past 20 years, she has been chosen by students as “Teacher of the Year” three times and has been nominated for the award two additional times. She also has been named “Outstanding Senior Faculty” 10 times since 1982.

Snider is a member of the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses and the Society for Education and Research in Psychiatric Nursing.

Yucha joined the College of Nursing faculty in 1999 and has led the college to tremendous growth in research funding. She oversaw the establishment of the UF Biobehavioral Research Center, earning a $670,000 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research. The college was one of only nine in the United States to receive such a center grant.

Yucha has published more than 70 research papers and abstracts and has made more than 60 research presentations nationally and internationally. She is editor of the journal Biological Research for Nursing and is the principal investigator on a National Institutes of Health-funded research study on biofeedback and hypertension.