Keela Herr’s face lights up as she talks about Staja “Star” Booker (17PhD), assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Nursing, being selected as a 2024 Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.
“I know she is definitely going to make an impact in the Academy because of her big interest in advocacy and making changes in systems and policy, which she came into the PhD program with,” Herr says. “That was what she wanted to do, and she's built her career to a point where she now is going to have a voice that people are going to listen to.”
In 2011, things looked a little different. As a master’s student with an interest in pain research, Booker wanted to pursue a PhD and learn from an expert whose work she admired. That expert was Herr.
Bonded by a shared commitment to improving the quality of life of older people that are living with pain, the mentor/mentee relationship between Herr and Booker grew. Often, Herr’s role involved reminding Booker to slow down. They talked frequently about the need for her to build her resumé and her own contributions to the literature for people to recognize her as a content expert.
“I really do believe I had some of the best mentors in my doctoral program. When I look at some of my friends and their experiences, my experience was totally different,” Booker says. “And even if I didn't agree with something, I took the time to think about it and see their point of view, because I knew that they weren't only looking out in my best interest, but also looking ahead, to a place that really I couldn't see.”
Having the best interest of your mentee at heart is important for Herr as a mentor, and looking ahead also meant supporting Booker after she finished the program. She needed new skill sets and different training, and that meant moving on to the University of Florida for her post-doc. “Even though I really, really wanted Star to stay at Iowa, I knew and supported her in looking at all the options and where she would get the additional training and mentoring that was going to move her career in the direction that she needed to go,” Herr says. That’s the thing about a healthy mentoring relationship, she notes. It evolves over time. As one’s career advances, mentors evolve into colleagues and often friends.
As their mentor-mentee relationship evolves, Herr continues to promote Booker through professional and networking opportunities, as well as award nominations. She is proud of what Booker has accomplished, and finds it deeply rewarding, as a mentor, to develop and support young nurse researchers like her. “I think we take on mentorship because of the bigger picture of wanting to develop others who can make a difference in the work that we do,” Herr says, “and every minute that I spend giving feedback or guidance has a very positive outcome on down the road.”
In Booker, she has helped develop not only a nurse researcher committed to further changing how we treat older adults with pain, but a dedicated and thoughtful mentor for future generations. “I hope Keela knows that even when she decides to hang up her academic shoes, her work will continue through me,” Booker says. “And I hope that I can be half of the mentor that she's been to me to my students.”