Constance Smith Hendricks, dean of Hampton University's School of Nursing, will be the featured speaker for the University of Tennessee College of Nursing's 2007 Mary T. Boyton Distinguished Lecture.

The lecture, entitled "On Becoming a Nurse Scientist," will take place Feb. 13 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Knoxville Marriot on Hill Avenue.

The lecture is free, but seating is limited.

Hendricks' area of specialty is health-promoting behaviors in adolescents, but she has experience in most forms of nursing: she worked as a staff nurse, nurse practitioner and nurse administrator prior to joining the collegiate ranks as professor and researcher. 

Hendricks was director of the nursing programs at Southern University and A&M College before joining Hampton University. She received a bachelor's and a master's in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a doctorate in clinical nursing research from Boston College. 

She was the recipient of two post-doctoral fellowships from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and recently was awarded a $300,000 fellowship to continue her research on adolescent health promotion from the National Institute of Nursing Research. 

Hendricks recently completed training at the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University.