Lia Barros combined her two passions, soccer and nursing, while attending the University of New Hampshire. When she graduated in May 2007 with a B.S. in nursing and an honors designation from the University Honors Program, she was the first student athlete in four years to graduate from that program. As a senior, Lia also received the prestigious Nursing Departmental Scholar Award, which is given to only one student each year. Lia’s hometown is Sammamish, Washington, and she is currently working as a registered nurse at the University of Washington Medical Center. After graduation she spent a month in a small town in Brazil volunteering in an educational institute for underprivileged children. Beginning in her junior year at UNH, Lia researched the neurological development of adolescents and their susceptibility to alcohol. She “thoroughly enjoyed” the research for her senior thesis and the feeling of being “capable of such professionalism.” It wasn’t all enjoyable, however, since she had to play the hours of interview tapes on her car’s tape player in order to transcribe them. She chose to publish in Inquiry because “as a young author and researcher, I felt my findings would be most important for those they affected.”
Dr. Pamela P. DiNapoli, RN, CNL is an associate professor in the Department of Nursing at the University of New Hampshire, where she has been for eight years. Her research interests are in the field of adolescent health risk behavior, and she teaches courses in maternal/child nursing and nursing theory. Dr. DiNapoli, an experienced mentor of students, said that supervising Lia’s research gave her “a better understanding of the culture of alcohol use by athletes at UNH.” Lia’s research led to questions for other student researchers to follow up on. Mentoring Lia, said Dr. DiNapoli, helped her “respect Lia as a persistent researcher.”
Dr. Carol Williams–Barnard, PhD, RN also found Lia to be a “intelligent, insightful, and an enthusiastic honors student who conducted a research study relevant to the discipline of college nursing. Her findings shed light on the complex nature of college athletes’ perception of susceptibility to alcohol use. Dr. Williams–Barnard is an associate professor in the Department of Nursing at the University of New Hampshire, where she has taught for thirty years. She is the Nursing Coordinator for the Honors–in–Major and Honors liaison to the University Honors Program. Dr. Williams–Barnard teaches the specialty of psychiatric–mental health nursing in both the classroom / clinical settings, and facilitates undergraduate honors seminars. Her research interests focus on the concept of presence in nursing education and practice, especially the partnership between the nursing student and practicing nurse.
Read Lia Barros’ research article College Athletes Having More than Just a Sip >>
