Nursing Professor Selected for 2013 ETD Leadership Award

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) international consortium has selected Associate Nursing Professor Dr. Linda Goodfellow as its 2013 Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Leadership Award winner.

Dr. Linda Goodfellow

The ETD Leadership Award recognizes members of the higher education community whose leadership and vision have helped to raise awareness of the benefits of ETDs and whose efforts have improved graduate education through the use of ETDs.

“I am very honored by the NDLTD’s International ETD Leadership award,” said Goodfellow, who volunteered in 2000 to serve on the University’s ETD ad hoc committee that investigated the benefits and opportunities of joining the NDLTD.

As a result, Duquesne joined the NDLTD. All University graduate students, regardless of their discipline, are required to submit their thesis or dissertation electronically to the ETD Digital Collection via the Gumberg Library.

The NDLTD is an international organization that, through leadership and innovation, promotes the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of ETDs. “They support electronic publishing and open access to scholarship in order to enhance the sharing of knowledge worldwide,” explained Goodfellow. “Worldwide free access to graduate students’ theses and dissertations is an extremely valuable resource to students, faculty and other scholars across all disciplines.”

In 2010, Goodfellow created an international research team comprised of nurse scientists and health science librarians from Australia, Great Britain and the United States. The team has conducted several studies, including one that surveyed nurse scholars’ awareness and use of ETDs and ETD libraries, and another regarding the challenges and opportunities faced by nurse scholars while searching and utilizing ETDs.

“Our next step is to develop and test an international online interactive educational intervention that will be offered worldwide to nurse scholars,” said Goodfellow. “Our initial work in ETD development has set the stage for future research, educational innovations and policy change.”