UT nursing teacher led research
1/24/2010Debra Buchman, 58, a nurse lauded as a researcher and teacher at the University of Toledo college of nursing and a co-author of studies on video games and children, died of cancer Friday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue.
She continued to work though ill, most recently from her Sylvania home, her husband, Chip, said. She was a UT associate professor and director of the Center for Nursing Research and Evaluation.
"She had a talent for taking complex statistical analyses and helping graduate students understand them in a way that was quite meaningful," said Timothy Gaspar, UT dean of nursing. "She was a master teacher and talented researcher. She was quite giving of her knowledge and talent."
Last year, she helped with the statistical underpinning as the UT nursing program sought re-accreditation. The result was accreditation through 2019.
"Part of that was due to her leadership and the work she did," Mr. Gaspar said.
She received dean's awards for teaching and for research.
For about 20 years, she and a mentor, Jeanne Brockmyer, conducted research and published articles on how violent video games affect children.
"She was very smart and a very good statistician," said Ms. Brockmyer, a UT distinguished university professor of psychology. "But many statisticians can't really translate what they know for people who aren't statisticians. She really knew how to do that."
She both saw the best in people and was a realist, Ms. Brockmyer said.
"People who are really smart sometimes aren't very compassionate, and she was very, very compassionate," Ms. Brockmyer said.
Born July, 12, 1951, she was a 1969 graduate of Bowsher High School, where she decided she would become a nurse.
She was a graduate of the Toledo Hospital school of nursing and Indiana State University, from which she received a bachelor's degree in nursing.
She was a nurse at a Terre Haute, Ind., hospital and taught at the Toledo Hospital nursing school.
She had a master's degree in nursing, with a specialty in geriatrics, from the University of Michigan. She had a doctorate in education research and measurement from UT.
Surviving are her husband, William "Chip" Buchman, whom she married May 10, 1975; son, David; parents, Lucille and William Path, and sister, Lauren Path.
Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. tomorrow in Walker Funeral Home, with a Scripture service at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the mortuary. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in St. Joseph Church, Sylvania, where she was a member.
The family suggests tributes to the Heart to Heart program at the UT college of nursing or Hospice of Northwest Ohio.
Contact Mark Zaborney at:
mzaborney@theblade.com
or 419-724-6182.