A good day
As members of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International filed into the Grand Ballroom of the JW Marriott in Indianapolis to conduct business in Session 2 of this convention’s House of Delegates, they did so with the distinct awareness that, while they were part of a long tradition, they were also making first-time history.
It was 42 bienniums ago—1929 to be exact—that members of a much smaller honor society installed their first president, Dorothy Charlotte Ford Buschmann, advisor to the six student founders. Between 1929 and 2013, 29 presidents have served (some for more than two years) and today, Hester C. Klopper, PhD, MBA, RN, RM, FANSA, of South Africa was installed as the 30th president of an organization now known as Sigma Theta Tau International and the first person to serve in that role from outside North America. (To learn more about President Klopper, read "Hester Klopper: Blazing new trails.")
When the 42nd Biennial Convention adjourned shortly before noon today in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, it marked the end of one biennium and the start of another, and there was celebration on both sides of the Atlantic. It was a good day—a good day for President Klopper’s chapter, Tau Lambda-at-Large, with its more than 1,000 members representing 18 universities across Africa; a good day for her friends and colleagues in South Africa, who celebrated the occasion seven time zones away; a good day for the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, where Klopper recently served as dean of the Faculty of Health and Community Science; a good day for the Forum of University Nursing Deans in South Africa (FUNDISA), where she currently serves as chief executive officer; and a good day for the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.
Photo memories of history in the making ...
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| A few of the delegates. |
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| Outgoing President Suzanne Prevost addresses the House of Delegates. |
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| Immediate Past President Suzanne Prevost hands the gavel to President Hester Klopper. |
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| Past Presidents Karen Morin, Carol Huston, Patricia Thompson, and Suzanne Prevost. |
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| President Hester Klopper calls the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau Internationally, to action, to serve locally, transform regionally, and lead globally. |
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| President Klopper (right) with President-Elect Cathy Catrambone, PhD, RN, associate professor, Rush University College of Nursing. |
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| Klopper, Catrambone, and Prevost greet well wishers. |
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| South African dancers celebrate the occasion. |
