Barbara Ihrke
Vice President of Academic Affairs, School of Nursing
Biography
Dr. Barbara Ihrke has taught full time at IWU since 1994. Her areas of expertise include transcultural nursing, tropical health, gerontology, and nursing informatics. Barbara is a research consultant at Marion General Hospital and was a home health nurse for several years. From 1980-1991 she worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a missionary nurse teaching in a school of nursing and doing primary health care projects. She spent her sabbatical in Gabon, Africa.
Educational Background:
- B.S., 1977, Crown College
- M.S., 1993, Indiana Wesleyan University
- Ph.D., 2002, Purdue University
Interests
Dr. Ihrke has presented her transcultural research at various national and international conferences. Research areas include cultural competence of students and nurses as well as spiritual care issues. Being Uncomfortable: A Transcultural Nursing Experience evolved from her work with junior nursing students. She is published in Teaching and Nursing: A Guide for Faculty (Billings and Halstead) and Essentials in e-Learning for Nurse Educators (Bristol and Zerwekh).