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requires seven courses, but courses may be taken individually without enrolling in the program as well. Nurses wishing to take courses do not need to be Rutgers students. Because Rutgers University is accredited, course credit will fulfill general education requirements at most universities and colleges throughout the country. NNU Now Offering Women���s Global Health Leadership Certificate Program F NATIONAL or registered nurses eager or curious to learn about how national and international social and economic forces in���uence their everyday nursing practice and their patients��� health, National Nurses United is pleased to announce that it is in the process of establishing an online certi���cate program in Women���s Global Health Leadership at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. The courses will engage nurses and community members in some of the most pressing political issues of our time as they relate to health and healthcare: economic inequality; climate change and other environmental crises; famine; epidemics; corporate healthcare providers and the consumer-driven healthcare model; health information technology; global health governance; international trade agreements; nurse migration; private pharmaceutical research, production, and distribution; commodity food speculation; genetic modification of living organisms; privatization of public resources and services; cuts in spending on social programs; human rights; and women���s movements for health around the world. Through the certificate program, students will come to understand patient advocacy as advocacy for humanity. A pilot course is currently being offered, a second pilot course will be introduced in the spring semester of 2013, and enrollment in the certificate program will be possible starting fall 2013. All courses will be offered online through Rutgers��� Institute for Women���s Leadership. The NNU Education Department designed the curriculum, and NNU Educators will teach certificate courses. The certificate program in Women���s Global Health Leadership is the first DECEMBER 2012 academic program built from the values of bedside nurses: compassion for the world���s sick and suffering, the necessity of a single standard of care for all people regardless of their ability to pay, just distribution of life���s basic necessities, equal opportunities to fulfill our human potential, and commitment to building solidarity with all who share these core values. Through the certificate program, NNU continues its work to create a world more aligned with core RN values: community, compassion, and caring. ���[The course] has helped to expand my outlook on health from my everyday nursing practice to look at a more global picture of healthcare,��� said Amber Malm, an RN who has completed the first pilot course offered, titled ���Global Women���s Health Movements��� which examines how women around the world facilitate change in the global institutions, organizations, and policies that most impact health globally. ���I now value healthcare as a human need imperative for survival and therefore absolutely a human right above all others. This course has broadened my knowledge of global women���s health and more importantly the lack thereof. I have learned that health cannot be separated from social and economic policy. In my practice, I have seen many nurses lose confidence in their patients due to the patients��� participation in unhealthy behaviors leading to illness. Providing care and education to change another person���s behavior proves to be very frustrating and impossible at times. This course challenged me to look at the circumstances in which individuals seek those unhealthy behaviors in hopes to better impact health. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by the disparities of global and national health policy, this course has made me feel empowered to help create change.��� Completion of the Women���s Global Health Leadership Certificate Program W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G NNU is collaborating with the Institute for Women���s Leadership (IWL) because it is an internationally renowned consortium of academic-activist centers based at Rutgers University. The IWL is distinguished for providing leadership training to some of the world���s most formidable women leaders. Programs at the IWL include the Center for American Women and Politics, the Institute for Research on Women, the Center for Women���s Global Leadership, and the Center for Women and Work. The Rutgers Department of Women���s and Gender Studies is also a part of this consortium. Significantly, the IWL has relationships with many international activist non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been active in the fight for a Robin Hood Tax, a campaign NNU has spearheaded in the United States. Many of these NGOs���based in the global South (a term used to refer collectively to the poorest regions in the world) share the values that animate NNU���s Nurses Campaign to Heal America. Many were founded on the belief that activists must link their struggles for health and healthcare to greater public spending on education and social programs; sufficient earning power to avoid deprivation of food, nutrition, and shelter; female literacy; women���s equality; and respect for social, economic, political, and civil rights. Housing a certificate program at the IWL will enable NNU to forge enduring alliances with NGOs working to provide universal healthcare globally and to better humanity. Since the courses are provided online, even busy RNs with complex schedules will be able to participate. Another advantage of online education is that nurses and community members all over the world will have an opportunity to take NNU courses for credit. Just when the campaign for a Robin Hood Tax is going global, NNU will (continued on page 8) N AT I O N A L N U R S E 7