Tamara Martinez-Anderson, the School of Nursing’s marketing and community engagement manager, is serving on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Holistic Admissions in Academic Nursing (HAHN) Consulting Group. Holistic review is a university admissions strategy that assesses an applicant’s unique experiences and culture alongside traditional measures of academic achievement such as grades and test scores. Martinez-Anderson was invited to serve as a member of the AACN Consulting team to co-facilitate training on the use of holistic admissions for several nursing schools who received Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grants as part of the Nursing Workforce Diversity (NWD) program.
The NWD program seeks to increase nursing education opportunities for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, including ethnic and racial minorities who are underrepresented among registered nurses. One of the conditions of receiving and renewing the annual HRSA funding is for each school to engage in training and technical assistance with regards to holistic review process, practices, and implementation with a health professions organization. AACN is providing training in holistic review and technical assistance to grantees who have entered into a relationship with the organization.
The implementation of Holistic Admissions Review represents a major shift in policies and procedures in organizations and significant change in how candidates are assessed for admission to nursing school. During the workshop, participants learn the core principles and process of holistic review, but the workshop is also an example of integration-based training that touches on how to navigate the waters of change by using an awareness- and skills-based approach.
Prior to joining the School of Nursing at Boise State in 2014, Martinez-Anderson worked as an assistant dean for admissions at various law schools where she developed expertise in using a holistic admissions processes to evaluate candidates for admission to law school. “I am excited to apply my prior experiences in diversity and inclusion practices to nursing education and look forward to future opportunities to bring this training to Boise State,” said Martinez-Anderson.