Cornelia Porter

Dr. Cornelia P. Porter RN, FAAN. During her extensive academic and professional careers, Dr. Porter has held faculty positions at various Ivy (i.e., Yale University) and Big 10 (e.g., University of Michigan) Research I academic institutions. She has been a program director at the national offices of the American Nurses Association and dean of a school of nursing. She is Professor Emeritus, School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

As a master educator and member of the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nursing Associations (NCEMNA), she has served as a national mentor of doctoral students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. 

As a nurse scientist, Dr. Porter has conducted interdisciplinary community-based research in a variety of settings with “tweens” and adolescents, primarily from historically designated racial and ethnic backgrounds. She has long been fascinated with how socialization processes – contextualized socio-cultural exposure to ideas, beliefs, and values - affect “tweens’” and adolescents’ every day choices. Consequently, she has conducted research about sexual behaviors, the meanings of black skin tones, and childrearing behaviors and practices. She has both presented and published extensively about her interests as well as methodological issues associated with samples who are members of historically designated racial and ethnic groups, and race and racism in both academic and professional nursing, and ‘diversity’ issues.

Dr. Porter has received many honors and awards. She has served on numerous academic, scientific, and professional committees and boards. She was inducted into the prestigious American Academy of Nursing [FAAN] in 1993. She continues to consult with nurse scientists about issues related to conducting research with members of historically designated racial and ethnic groups.