Kansas State Implementation Program Phases 1 and 3 Areas of Focus: • Leadership • Education • Diversity Contact: Mary Carol G. Pomatto Project Director Pittsburg State University mpomatto@pittstate.edu Cynthia S. Teel Project Director University of Kansas Medical Center cteel@kumc.edu Creating a Culture of Health in Kansas: Advancing Nursing Education and Leadership Project Plans: This project builds on the first round of the State Implementation Program funding by continuing the web-based resources for academic progression, publishing a paper on collaborative process, and disseminating information about the resources widely throughout the Kansas nursing workforce. Ultimately the applicant projects to increase the proportion of BSN prepared nurses from 60% to 62%. The project plans to offer a 1-year existing leadership training program (termed a “leadership residency”) to 32 nurses from various fields including long-term care, public health, and school nurses. To foster mentor-mentee relationship in the state, the applicant will develop an online repository for leadership development resources, and develop a leadership “mentoring.com” style website with mentors/mentees. The applicant projects to increase the percentage of RN board membership relative to the current baseline. To increase the diversity of the Kansas nursing workforce, the applicant will host a diversity summit in collaboration with regional chapters of national nursing organizations. The applicant will increase public awareness (including adolescents) of nursing’s role, in an effort to foster interest of diverse students.