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Sister act Morrical and Symonds earn doctorates
September 11, 2003 | |||||
Add Ed.D. to the titles of Assistant Professor of Nursing Kathy Morrical, M.S.N., and her sister Sue Symonds, M.S.N., an associate professor emerita of nursing. Each received a Doctor of Education degree this summer from Ball State University.
Morrical’s dissertation looked at readiness to learn in adults. Adult students who struggle in her med-surg classes, or adult patients who don’t take new medications as prescribed, may not be “ready” to learn new information or skills, according to Morrical. In her thesis research, she hoped to find “measurable clues that patients might give when they are ready to learn.” Unprepared patients add to the rising healthcare costs, she added. “We have a high rate of ‘recidivism’ in hospitals, high non-adherence to treatment programs that drives up costs.” Symonds taught at IU Kokomo from 1970 to 2002, specializing in nursing fundamentals and pediatric care. She wrote her dissertation on the expectations and behaviors of mothers as they affect offspring’s early development. She studied mothers who have unrealistic expectations of when their infants should be able to walk, toilet-train, or accept discipline. Some mothers punish children who do not meet the mothers’ “timetables,” Symonds said. Although her study covered just a small number of recorded cases, Symonds believes her thesis “has implications for the prevention of child abuse.” Both Morrical and Symonds had pursued doctoral studies part-time since the 1980s, but didn’t “get serious” until around 1994. That’s when several IU Kokomo Nursing faculty began carpooling to Ball State for advanced degree studies. Often, several would enroll in the same classes, and the hour-and-a-half rides turned into lively discussions of class work, according to Morrical and Symonds. Evaluating each other as students, Morrical said Symonds “gains a lot” through avid reading. “She likes to try out ideas by talking about them. She draws out other people’s positions before she makes up her mind.” Morrical brings “her own sense of priorities” to an issue, and focuses on those priorities, Symonds said. “She likes for things to fit a schematic she’s already got. She’s very creative in how she puts things together.” Finishing her doctorate was one of Symonds’ priorities when she retired from teaching last year. Her days remain “jammed full,” she said. “But, I don’t have to wait for the alarm clock to ring. Now, I have the option to say ‘No.’ ” “Go ahead. Rub it in,” teased Morrical.
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