University Award for Penn Nursing Professor
Sharon Irving, PhD, the Miriam Stirl Endowed Term Chair in Nutrition, Associate Professor of Pediatric Nursing, and Vice-Chair of the Department of Family and Community Health, will be honored with the 2023 Women of Color at Penn (WOCAP) Award for faculty on March 17,2023.
The WOCAP Awards are given in recognition of individuals who have conscientiously endeavored to increase respect for women of color at the University of Pennsylvania, its Health System, and the Delaware Valley community. Faculty/staff nominees must be affiliated with Penn, the Health System or the local Philadelphia area and must have demonstrated:
- exceptional leadership,
- distinguished service,
- positive impact on the community, and
- commitment to enhancing quality of life for and/or serving as a role model for women of color.
“Dr. Irving is a quintessential nurse, leader, and scholar. She is a pioneer in her field of critical care and nutrition science not only because she is a nurse, but more importantly because she is a woman of color. Dr. Irving has been a nurse for over 40 years and has broken the glass ceiling to pave the way for woman of color to enter the nursing profession and pursue advanced education,” said her nominator Marcus Henderson, MSN, RN, Nu’17, GNu’20. “Dr. Irving firmly believes in her role to mentor women of color as they are significantly underrepresented in critical care medicine and as advanced practice providers. She recognizes the vital importance of embedding equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in her work and in all that we do as health professionals to cultivate a workforce representative of the communities we serve.”
“To be nominated by a former student and then honored with this award is extremely humbling and I am so grateful. You never know who is watching how you do what you do! I know that my professional accomplishments have built upon the way that others have traveled and smoothed for me, the mentorship, help and support I receive and believing in myself. I hope that I am able to give as much as I have been given, said Irving. “I am so honored to be recognized among the numerous outstanding Women of Color here at Penn. We all have our challenges and struggles, as a woman of color, mine are similar to many and different to from others, but at the end of the day, to know that I have inspired even one to push through, accomplish and achieve is truly a gift.”