Joan Uhl Pierce, PhD, RN, FAAN

Expertise Areas:

• Public Health
• Occupational Health Nursing
• Aging
• International Health and International Nursing

Cultural Groups

• Australia
Indonesia
• Specific Native American groups from Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado.

Research Methodology

• Ethnomethodology
• Quantitative data analysis

Languages spoken, read/write* (up to 5)
• English

Languages spoken, read/write*:

English

Select Publications:

Uhl, J. (1992). Nightingale-The International Nurse.  Journal of Professional Nursing, 8 (1):5.

Douglas, M., Uhl ,Pierce, J. et al. (2009). Standards of practice for culturally competent care. A request for comments. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 20 (3): 257-269.

Douglas, M., Uhl Pierce, J. et al. (2011). Standards of practice for culturally competent nursing care: 2011 update. Journal of Transcultural Nursing. 22 (4): 317-333.

Present/Future Directions 

Dr. Joan Uhl Pierce obtained her MN from the University of Washington during the early 1970’s; during her masters’ studies she met Dr. Madeleine Leininger and was introduced to Transcultural Nursing. After completing her masters’ degree, Joan joined the faculty at the University of Utah. One year later, Dr. Leininger became the Dean at the College of Nursing, University of Utah, and started an interest group in transcultural nursing. Joan became an enthusiastic supporter of transcultural nursing. She helped plan and participated in the early meetings and conferences at Snowbird, Utah. When the Transcultural Nursing Society was founded in 1974, she was elected Vice-President of the Society. She was instrumental in preparing the incorporation papers and working with Mr. Jay Bell, a local attorney, to lay the legal framework for the society. Working with others in the society, Joan helped craft the first By-Laws of the society and advocated for their passage during the 1976 Annual Conference of the Transcultural Nursing Society held at Snowbird, UT.

During the summer of 1977, Joan became President of the Transcultural Nursing Society when Dr. Joyceen Boyle resigned as President of the Society to begin her fieldwork in Guatemala. As President Joan was active in the early days of the Society helping recruit members to the Society and students into transcultural nursing courses. She personally oversaw (collecting papers, editing and typing) the first several Proceedings of the Transcultural Nursing Conferences. Each year at the time of the Annual Conference, Joan would pack boxes full of the Proceedings and take them with her to the Conference site to sell to TCN members.

In the early days of the Society, there was no staff and Joan took a leading role in planning and overseeing the early conferences-those held at Snowbird as well as in Seattle, WA. Although Dr.Leininger took the leadership role in seeking a publisher for the Journal of Transcultural Nursing, (JTN) , Joan was also involved in the many contacts and meetings with potential publishers. In 1998, when SAGE Publications assumed publishing rights for the Journal, Joan chaired the Search Committee for the first Editor of the Journal under the new publisher.

Joan became one of the first Associate Editors for the JTN, a position she served in for several years. She remained an Editorial Board member and Peer Reviewer until her death. Joan also was the first Chair of the Transcultural Nursing Foundation a position she held for several years. When Joan first announced the establishment of the TCN Foundation at a business meeting of the Society, she challenged members to support the goals of the Foundation by matching her donation of $10,000. Generous with her money and more generous with her time, talents and enthusiasm, Joan Uhl Pierce was a founding member of the Transcultural Nursing Society and never wavered in her strong support and many contributions to the Society.

Joyceen Boyle, PhD, RN, FAAN