A Message from WIN's President - September 2026

60 Years—and We’re Just Getting Started!

Dear WIN Members,

Sixty years.

As we prepare for the 60th Annual Communicating Nursing Research Conference, April 6–9, 2027, in Bellevue, Washington, I keep coming back to just how remarkable that number is.

For six decades, the Western Institute of Nursing has brought together nurse scientists, clinicians, educators, students, and leaders to share knowledge, challenge ideas, mentor the next generation, and advance nursing science. That is an extraordinary legacy—and one that deserves an extraordinary celebration.

But I don’t want our 60th Anniversary to be only about looking back.

I want it to be about imagining what comes next.

That is very much on my mind as your Board of Governors prepares to meet in Bellevue this month—at the very hotel where we will gather next April. We have an ambitious agenda focused not simply on maintaining WIN, but on asking some important questions about what our organization can become as we enter our seventh decade.

How do we make our annual conference even more valuable, accessible, engaging, and memorable? How do we cultivate our next generation of WIN leaders? How do we expand opportunities for members to connect throughout the year—not just when we see one another each spring? How do we strengthen our Special Interest Groups (SIGs), expand our reach, recognize the increasingly global nature of nursing science, and continue creating opportunities for emerging scholars?

Those are the conversations I want us to be having.

First Things First: Get Yourself to Bellevue!

If you have been thinking about submitting your work to WIN, this is the year to do it!

The Call for Abstracts is now open for our 60th Anniversary Conference under the theme “Celebrating 60 Years of Excellence in Nursing Research, Practice, and Education.” Abstracts for research, projects, methodology, and theory development/conceptual work are welcome for podium and poster consideration.

The abstract submission deadline is October 15, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time—and there will be no extensions.

I want to see longtime WIN presenters in Bellevue, but I especially want to see first-time presenters, students, early-stage investigators, clinicians, educators, and colleagues who may have wondered, “Is my work right for WIN?”

My answer is: Bring it.

Our record-breaking San Francisco conference demonstrated the incredible energy that exists within this organization. Now let’s carry that momentum into Bellevue and make our 60th Anniversary the largest, most diverse, most engaging—and yes, the most FUN—WIN gathering yet.

And did I mention there will be a Wednesday night dance party, anniversary swag, special surprises, and much more?

I told you before: we are going to celebrate 60 years like we mean it!

60 Years Means Investing in the Next 60

Our anniversary also gives us an opportunity to think seriously about legacy.

Our 60 x 60 Campaign has set a goal of raising $60,000 in honor of WIN’s 60th Anniversary, supporting our Endowment Fund and helping create future opportunities for nurse researchers and educators. And every dollar raised up to $60,000 will be matched!

We also continue to think about how WIN can intentionally develop its future leaders. One of the exciting ideas before the Board this month is a proposed WIN Leadership Academy designed to identify, mentor, engage, and nurture promising WIN members for future leadership within our organization.

This connects directly to something I challenged you to consider in my last President’s Message: Who sees themselves as a future leader of WIN?

Maybe it is you.

Our Call for Nominations is coming for President-Elect, Secretary/Treasurer, Governor-at-Large, and Governor of Student Members. Think about someone whose voice needs to be at the Board table. Encourage them. Nominate them.

Or perhaps nominate yourself.

Leadership pipelines do not simply happen. We build them.

WIN Beyond the Conference

I am also excited about how much is happening between our annual conferences.

Our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are developing new webinars that will give members additional opportunities to connect, learn, collaborate, and share expertise throughout the year. We are strengthening communication between SIG leadership and their Board liaisons, and we are exploring additional ways to bring WIN programming directly to members—including the possibility of a virtual member colloquium.

And our collaboration with our sister regional research organizations continues to grow.

On September 9, WIN joins the Midwest Nursing Research Society, Southern Nursing Research Society, and Eastern Nursing Research Society for our NINR Listening Session focused on postdoctoral fellows and early-stage investigators. More than 300 people had already registered when we last shared the news!

That is exactly what I mean when I talk about expanding the value of your WIN membership: creating opportunities for you to connect with colleagues, researchers, organizations, and national conversations throughout the year—not simply for four days each April.

And Our Voices Must Be Heard

Being a nurse scientist, educator, clinician, or student also means recognizing when our collective voice is needed.

The American Nurses Association is calling nurses to participate in its 2026 Nurses Day of Action, and I encourage WIN members to learn more and consider adding your voices to this national advocacy effort.

Last month I wrote about the threats facing graduate nursing education and reminded us that advocacy matters. I believe that deeply.

Nursing science does not exist apart from the policies that determine who receives care, who conducts research, who has access to education, what gets funded, and whose voices are heard.

As researchers, educators, clinicians, students, and nursing leaders, we have both expertise and lived experience that policymakers need to hear.

Celebrating Our Past. Creating Our Future.

So, as we approach this remarkable milestone, I hope you will think about what 60 years of WIN means to you.

Perhaps WIN gave you your first opportunity to present your research.

Perhaps you met a mentor here.

Perhaps a SIG introduced you to collaborators who became colleagues and friends.

Perhaps WIN was one of the first places where you felt that your scholarship—and you—belonged.

Whatever brought you here, I hope you will help us decide where we go next.

Submit the abstract.
Join the SIG.
Attend the webinar.
Mentor the student.
Make the donation.
Nominate a colleague.
Run for office.
Use your voice.
Show up.

Because the greatest way we can honor the people who built WIN over the past 60 years is to make certain there is an even stronger, more inclusive, innovative, and vibrant WIN waiting for those who will lead it through the next 60.

Bellevue, here we come!

See you April 6–9, 2027.

Austin Nation, PhD, RN, PHN, NE-BC
President
Western Institute of Nursing