The College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) at Governors State University (GSU) has just appointed its Chair and Director of Nursing in the person of Dr. Martha Mathews Libster.
Libster, is from Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA, where she acted as the Director and Chair of Nursing, before coming to GSU. She is actually a global nurse leader in the area of nursing history, holistic nursing (specifically nurse-herbalism, healing traditions, and foot reflexology), and cultural diplomacy. She has written a lot of journal publications, including five books, one of which is Herbal Diplomats which earned her the highly esteemed Lavinia Dock Award for Excellence in Research and Writing from the American Association for the History of Nursing.
The Interim Dean of CHHS Dr. Elizabeth Cada stated that the College of Health and Human Services is very much delighted to welcome Dr. Libster to their college. The students there are going to gain a lot of good from Dr. Libster’s research and teaching experience, which is 25 years already, and also gain from her understanding of the humanities and holistic nursing, Cada went on. Dr. Libster is also aware of the significance of establishing academic-practice collaboration, which happens to be something that is of value to the College as well, she said.
Libster is the founding director for a worldwide online learning society called The Bamboo Bridge which is committed to cultural diplomacy in nursing as well as the harmonizing relationship among nursing and traditional or indigenous healing practices. Aside from that, she also acted as Visiting Research Scientist back in 2010 at Northwestern University in Mafeking, South Africa.
During the period of her vocation in education, Libster has gained a wide ranging experience in online community developing as well as in distance learning, and has acquired financial support for original projects in the fields of nursing, the healing arts, and the humanities. On top of that, she has also provided her services on the schools of East Carolina University (a National League for Nursing Center of Excellence in Education), the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Purdue University.
Libster has a Ph.D in Humanities-Health Care History which she achieved from Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England. She also holds a Master of Science in Nursing which she finished from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and a bachelor’s degree in Nursing which she got from Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles. As if that’s not enough, she also has a bachelor’s degree in Dance and Movement Education which she obtained from New York University. Her areas include Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist – Infant Mental Health; she is also a board-certified Advanced Practice Holistic Nurse; and, lastly, she is the Associate Editor for Botanicals for the Journal of Holistic Nursing.
Arriving in GSU, Libster has skills and knowledge in the improvement of academic-practice collaborations and has just put in a publication to the exceptional issue of the Journal of Professional Nursing.
