Conference Materials   2006 Conference Brochure   Floor plan for the Peabody Conference Rooms Welcome to the 20th Anniversary Conference of the Southern Nursing Research Society Even hurricane Katrina couldn’t derail our 20 th Anniversary Celebration! The SNRS Board of Directors was holding its semi-annual meeting in New Orleans the weekend the hurricane hit that city and had to hurriedly wrap up business. The last few board members barely got out before flights were halted. We all held our breath and worried about our New Orleans colleagues as we watched the news, and throughout the next week as we tried to make contact with them. The courage and dedication of our colleagues impacted by Katrina and Rita is inspirational and to be applauded. What they have, and continue to endure is unimaginable to most of us. And, in the midst of all that is happening around them, their efforts to address the health needs of their communities and to carry on with their educational programs stand as shining examples of the best of nursing. It is in that vein that this year’s anniversary conference, although located upstream in another music city on the Mississippi River, continues to be hosted by our Louisiana State University Health Science Center School of Nursing colleagues at their request. Whenever you celebrate an anniversary you can’t help but begin to reminisce about the past and contemplate the future. When reminiscing about the past it often starts something like, “Who would have thought 20 years ago that we would become what we are today?” However, I believe many of those individuals who were at the very first SNRS meeting, including myself, might challenge that view. There always was a notion that this organization would grow into a strong society that represented some of the greatest nurse-scientists in the nation, and that provided a forum for the growth of new generations of nurse-scientists. This vision has been achieved as is evident by the research being presented at this year’s conference. As we contemplate our future, it is apparent to your board of directors that our society is at a pivotal point in our maturation as an organization. Under the leadership of our new president, Dr. Patty Gray, we will be undertaking renewed strategic planning with an eye toward moving our society to the next stage of development. I am convinced that 20 years from now at the 40 th Anniversary Celebration there will be a president’s message that starts something like, “The great society that we have become today is clearly the fulfillment of a vision held by our predecessors.” Donna Hathaway, PhD, FAAN President   Copyright © 2006 Southern Nursing Research Society Promoting Nursing Research in The South