A Commitment to Care
The University of Central Arkansas is home to many magnificent teachers and mentors, but Dr. Barbara Williams, professor and recently appointed chairwoman of the UCA Board of Nursing, is truly one of a kind. Her quiet nature and reserved sense of control provide a sense of peace; her presence is one of understated calming strength. “I think in many ways I was born to be a nurse,” Williams said. “I have many characteristics of wanting to help people, being concerned, having a desire to make the world better, that type of thing. There are many different personalities in the world of nursing, and we need them all.”
Williams knew she wanted to be a nurse since she was in the sixth grade. She made the decision then, and never deviated from her plan. “A friend and I decided that we were going to go to nursing school together. We both became nurses, and we were even roommates here at UCA,” Williams said. She graduated from UCA in 1971, and began working on campus as a professor in 1978.
The UCA Nursing Program still has the same core values it had when Williams was in nursing school. “The UCA nursing program has definitely changed, but it’s still very student focused just like it has always been. The faculty has always taken time for students, and they still do,” Williams said. “I’m very pleased with that.”
With all of the hustle and bustle of today’s generation, Williams said she is very excited about the strides UCA is taking to help students learn to cope with stress. “Health is physical, it’s emotional, it’s social, and it’s mental and spiritual. When there are problems in any of those areas it’s going to affect the others.”
“Another thing that we have consistently excelled at is preparing graduates who stay in their field,” Williams continued. “We have alumni who have been in nursing throughout their entire careers. That tells me that UCA is preparing students who are ready for the field, who are not going into career shock, and who are able to adapt. The feedback we get from employers about the quality of our former students is very positive and reinforcing. They speak very highly of their ability to think critically and their ability to work well with others.”
Naturally, Williams is an advocate for prevention. “Nursing is one of the careers that has always had a very holistic view of the human. It’s much better that the patient doesn’t need our direct services,” Williams said. “Rather than just coping, which is really just a reaction to stress, you have to move back to the front end of the stress before it ever hits and prevent it. That is what living is: preventing stress, learning to live and take care of yourself, so that you can thrive.”