Cal State L.A. Faculty Member Receives 2002 Educator Role Award


Cal State L.A.’s nursing faculty member Darlene N. Finocchiaro (Pasadena resident) was recently selected as the recipient of the 2002 Educator Role Award by the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN). The plaque will be presented to Finocchiaro on Friday, October 18, at the ARN 28th Annual Education Conference, “Succeeding in the Complex World of Rehab,” in Kansas City, Missouri.

The award recognizes a nurse who has contributed to the advancement of rehabilitation nursing care through an academic or educational role. Candidates for this award demonstrate leadership ability and effectiveness in the educational development and mentoring of rehabilitation nurses or students and support the advancement of rehabilitation nurses through continuing or formal education.

Finocchiaro, a Cal State L.A. graduate, is the coauthor of Rehabilitation Nursing Practice (1998, McGraw Hill), and past secretary/treasurer of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses. She was a staff nurse at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center in Downey, California, for 10 years, caring mostly for spinal-cord injury patients. She also served as past-president/fundraising chair of Cal State L.A.’s Nu Mu chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, international honor society of nursing. Her expertise is in medical-surgical nursing, especially rehabilitation.

Besides developing the advanced medical-surgical nursing course emphasizing rehabilitation concepts and practices related to complexed patients, Finocchiaro has re-developed the nursing elective course, “Assessment and Care of the Patient’s Spiritual Needs,” at Cal State L.A.

Since 1974, the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses has helped nurses stay on top of the skills and knowledge needed to provide top-quality rehabilitative and restorative care across settings, conditions, and age spans. ARN’s mission is to promote and advance professional rehabilitation nursing practice through education, advocacy, collaboration, and research to enhance the quality of life for those affected by disability and chronic illness.

California State University, Los Angeles, is a comprehensive university at the heart of a major metropolitan city. The 175-acre hilltop campus is located five miles east of Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. Since 1947, Cal State L.A. has been a leader in providing quality higher education. Today, the campus comprises a faculty of internationally-recognized scholars and artists, and more than 20,000 students with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds that reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations.