NEW CHAIR APPOINTED FOR SCHOOL OF NURSING

Richardean Benjamin-Coleman, an associate professor of nursing who has been at Old Dominion University since 1989, recently was appointed chair of the university's School of Nursing. She formerly had served as graduate program director.

A specialist in psychiatric and community health nursing, Benjamin-Coleman has had her research on pediatric and adolescent behaviors published in several academic and professional journals.

She is a graduate of the master of public health program in psychiatric epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh. She holds a doctorate in psychiatric nursing from the University of Texas at Austin and a master of science degree in nursing from the Medical College of Georgia.

Prior to coming to Old Dominion, she worked with the American Nurses' Association's ethnic/racial minority fellowship programs and held a postdoctoral fellowship with the University of Pittsburgh's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. She also was on the faculty at Georgia Southern University.

A member of the Minority Health Research Consortium of Hampton Roads and the Portsmouth Healthy Families Advisory Committee, she also is a board member for District Four of the Virginia Nurses Association and a site evaluator for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.