Dr. Ruth Wittmann-Price, department chair and professor of nursing, will be presenting “Exploring Perceptions of Nursing Image in an Inner-city Hospital” at the Humanities and Social Sciences Symposium on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 3:45 p.m. in FH 222A.

Wittmann-Price said that the talk arises from her article published in the Sept. 2011 issue of “Nursing” about a research project she did in Philadelphia.

“I hope they can use some of the information to extrapolate it to this rural population here,” Wittmann-Price said.

Wittmann-Price said that nursing image is an issue that is tackled frequently.

“Nursing image is act-ually dealt with all the time,” Wittmann-Price said. “There are lots of things that are talked about in the nursing literature today about nurses with tattoos, nurses with piercings, what nurses should wear, and how different generations perceive nurses. Nursing is one of the most trusted professions in the United States, so our image is truly very important,” Wittmann-Price said.

Wittmann-Price, who was a clinically active nurse for 32 years, earned an undergraduate degree in nursing from Felician College in 1978, a master’s degree as a perinatal clinical nurse specialist from Columbia University in 1983, and completed her Ph. D. in nursing science at Widener University in 2006.

Wittmann-Price is the second of five speakers to present in the Humanities and Social Sciences Symposium. The Symposium will include professors from many different disciplines at FMU.

Dr. Russell Ward, associate professor in the sociology department, organizes the Humanities and Social Sciences Symposium. Ward believes that the Symposium is an opportunity for students to get to know professors outside of the classroom.

“For the students, if they see their professor talk about his or her research, which they may never have been introduced to in class, it gives them an opportunity to see their professor in an entirely differently environment than do in classroom,” Ward said.

According to Ward, the Symposium is designed to introduce existing faculty members to recently hired ones. Ward said that another mission of the Symposium is to illuminate the academic work of FMU faculty.

“The mission of our Symposium is to get our campus community to see people that we ordinarily see all the time in a different light, to connect with them,” Ward said. “When I see one of my colleagues do a presentation, I feel like I know them in a different way.”

Ward also hopes that the Symposium will facilitate relations amongst members of the university.

“I am a sociologist, so I am a big fan of social bonds, and I think that’s a part of what we do,” Ward said. “We would like to increase bonds and the strength of our campus community with this.”

Upcoming talks in the Humanities and Social Sciences Symposium can be found in the FMU online calendar.