ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge past and present faculty and students at the College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University whose sharing through dialogue has contributed to the evolution of ideas over the past 12 years. We are particularly grateful to the faculty for taking the risks necessary to advance a program of study grounded in the discipline with caring as the focal point. Through supporting each other as colleagues, we were able to suspend our traditional pasts in order to study and teach the discipline with a new lens.
We also are indebted to students and colleagues whose questions, stories, and expressions of nursing fostered clarity in our understanding of the ontology of nursing. A special thank you goes to the following colleagues whose stories are re-presented in this book: Gayle Maxwell, Daniel Little, Sheila Carr, Patricia Kronk, Lorraine Wheeler, and Michele Stobie.
To the many scholars in the discipline whose works reflect a commitment to the development of nursing knowledge related to caring in nursing, and especially to the members of the International Association of Human Caring, we thank you. We extend a special thanks to Marilyn Parker and Terri Touhy for their unending devotion and commitment to nursing and for the blessing of their friendship.
We acknowledge Shawn Pennell who designed the image of the dance of caring persons described in this book. Sally Barhydt of the National League for Nursing offered understanding and thoughtful input in the early stages of this process and we thank her for her invaluable support. Thanks also to Allan Graubard of the League for his recognition of the meaning of our work, and for his careful attention in seeing this manuscript through to publication.
We would like to recognize all persons we have been privileged to nurse. Through the experience and study of these nursing situations, the knowledge of the discipline unfolds.
Last, we extend gratitude to our families for living caring with us and supporting our many professional endeavors.