Congratulations!

Rhonda Flenoy-Younger

Rhonda Flenoy-Younger, our Director of Recruitment, Outreach and Admissions at the School of Nursing, has agreed to serve as the Assistant Director for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. In this new role, she will work closely with Deborah Koniak-Griffin, the Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in special outreach efforts to the staff focused on improving climate issues. Rhonda has been a member of the School of Nursing Council on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from the beginning, and is committed to creating an equitable environment for all. As one of the staff representatives on the Council, she has been actively involved in a range of activities that will be relevant to her new role.

Rhonda has been employed at the University since 1983 and with the School of Nursing since 1985. She has done an amazing job with recruitment, pre-admission counseling, outreach and admissions for the Undergraduate and Graduate programs. In 2004, Rhonda received the Fair and Open Academic Environment Award from the UCLA Academic Senate for her valuable contributions to the work of the University. She also received the 2009 Best Practice in Graduate Nurse Recruiting award from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Additionally, relevant to this role, Rhonda has coordinated several programs at the School of Nursing including the Summer Internship Program for Underserved Middle School Students in South Central Los Angeles. She is also the coordinator of the UCLA School of Nursing Mentorship Program and the advisor to the Pan African Nursing Student and Alumni Association.

Sharrica Miller

Sharrica Miller, a fifth-year PhD candidate, was selected as a Johnson & Johnson/AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholar. The program, funded by the Johnson & Johnson campaign for Nursing’s Future and administered by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, was launched in 2007 to enhance racial and ethnic diversity within the nurse faculty population in the US by providing financial support, mentoring and leadership development to graduate students committed to teaching in schools of nursing after graduation. “This program just had my name on it,” said Miller. “I am passionate about fusing nursing education and research.”

Miller received her BSN from Howard University, her MSN from California State

University Long Beach and has 10 years of clinical experience in pediatrics. Her doctoral research focuses on health services utilization among transitional age foster youth.

“Typically foster youth who emancipate out don’t have the skills to take care of themselves” said Miller. “They utilize healthcare inappropriately – they don’t have access and often don’t have insurance. I want to understand how they are utilizing healthcare services then find a way to better educate them.”

Miller, a former foster youth, hopes to inspire others to pursue higher education and give back to the community.

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