Heideggerian Hermeneutics Institutes will leave Madison after 2004

The UW-Madison School of Nursing (SoN) has served as the hub of hermeneutical scholarship for 12 years as students, clinicians and researchers from across the globe gather for intensive study in areas of health care and human sciences. Left: Professor Emerita Nancy Diekelmann, founder of the Heideggerian Hermeneutics Institutes. Right: Pam Ironside, PhD.

As constant as the summer solstice in June, the Heideggerian Institutes have vitalized the UW-Madison campus in the month of the Gemini since 1992 … but, ironically, change is a constant. Due to budget cuts in continuing education, the institutes will move to a new home campus at George Mason University College of Nursing and Health Science in Fairfax, Va., after the 2004 Wisconsin sessions.

This year, institute founder and Professor Emerita Nancy Dieklemann, PhD, RN, FAAN, will lead the five-day advanced institute (June 24-28, 2004), while colleague Pam Ironside, PhD, nursing scholar and researcher, will conduct the two-week beginning-level institute (June 7-18, 2004). Ironside also will conduct the 2005 institute at George Mason, slated for June 17-21, 2005.

The UW-Madison School of Nursing (SoN) has served as the hub of hermeneutical scholarship for 12 years as students, clinicians and researchers from across the globe gather for intensive study in areas of health care and human sciences. Therefore, it is fitting that the Heideggerian Institutes’ annual banquet held at the culmination of the sessions will celebrate the UW-Madison School of Nursing as the point of origin and George Mason University as a welcomed opportunity for a new home base from which to expand qualitative inquiry.

As with every Heideggerian institute, its milieu encompasses the philosophical views of Martin Heidegger, a 20th century philosopher who posited that humans are “self-interpreting,” that is, they are always in the process of creating meanings from situations in which they are involved. Hermeneutics is an approach to inquiry focusing on examining common, everyday experiences for shared meanings and practical wisdom.

Historically, this scholarly event draws doctoral students, researchers and clinicians in areas of health care; however, attendees are found to emerge from a palette of backgrounds, experiences, and disciplines. This year’s attendees at beginning-level sessions include a doctoral student from North Carolina who has collected data in Mali, a country in West Africa; a retired nun, who is a clinical nurse research coordinator and studies life experiences; two doctoral students from New York and Alabama; a renal nurse from Dublin, Ireland, who is working toward her PhD; two professors from Pennsylvania who are studying students who struggle academically; a doctoral student from South Africa; and a professor of social work from Indiana. The advanced sessions include deans, professors and doctoral students from 15 states as well as Canada and New Zealand.

As the hub of “converging conversations,” takes up residence in Fairfax, Va., the institute’s exploration of interpretive phenomenology will continue to gather momentum.  As one former attendee described the institute, “It’s a life-changing experience in learning that will deeply and daily influence teaching and research.”