Member News

April 2025

• Drs. Karen Hunt and Rachael Salguero from the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, MA were awarded an Acceleration Academy Implementation Grant titled, "Integrating American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Competencies into Clinical Education: A Comprehensive Tool for Clinical Instructors to Enhance Clinical Judgment." Dr. Monika Schuler from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth will serve as a mentor on this grant. This research study will provide faculty across prelicensure programs with practical guidelines for integrating the Essentials within a clinical setting to enhance clinical judgment development in all nursing programs. Read more >>
• The Ohio State University College of Nursing and the Bedford Falls Foundation, which was founded by Carlyle Group co-founder and co-chairman Bill Conway, Jr. and his late wife, Joanne Barkett Conway, announced a $2 million donation to create the Joanne and William Conway Nursing Scholarship. The program will provide renewable scholarships for eligible BSN students who are Ohio residents. More than 200 students—who will be known as Conway Scholars—are expected to benefit from this new support. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Kelly Harden, former dean and professor in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Union University recently assumed the role of dean at the Mississippi College School of Nursing. She succeeds Dr. Lisa Eichelberger, who has served as interim dean since December 2023. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Kathryn Tart, professor and founding dean of the University of Houston Gessner College of Nursing, has been elected Distinguished Fellow/Professional Member in the National Academies of Practice. Members of the Class of 2025 were inducted during an awards ceremony in Washington, DC on March 15, 2025. Read more >>
   
• The University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing clinical assistant professor Dr. Leah Burt is one of five scholars nationwide to be chosen for the 2025 Class of Macy Faculty Scholars, a highly selective program designed to identify and nurture the careers of promising educators in nursing and medicine. During her two years in the program, Dr. Burt will develop a simulation-based curriculum to teach health professions students to better understand and mitigate diagnostic disparities. Read more >>
   
• The University of Maryland School of Nursing received a $300,000 gift from the Mary Catherine Bunting Foundation to continue the work of the School’s Community and Public Health Environmental Initiative, a collaborative effort with the Maryland Family Network to improve overall health and environmental health of children from birth until age 3 through programs that support early literacy and lifelong healthy habits. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Diane L. Spatz from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN). This award recognizes an AWHONN member whose contributions to women’s health, obstetric, and neonatal nursing have demonstrated a lasting commitment to excellence. Dr. Spatz will be honored during the AWHONN 2025 Convention in June. Read more >>
   
• The University of South Carolina’s College of Nursing will launch the state’s only accredited nurse-midwifery education program in Fall 2025 to address South Carolina’s maternal health needs. The program will offer an accessible online pathway for registered nurses to earn a Master of Science in Nursing. Upon completion, students will be eligible to sit for the Certified Nurse-Midwife certification exam. Read more >>

March 2025

• The Minnesota Department of Education has awarded $746,220 to St. Catherine University’s School of Nursing through its Student Support Personnel Workforce Pipeline program. The grant will support work to address the shortage of school nurses and diversify the workforce in the Minnesota K–12 system. Read more >>
   
• Researchers Katherine Barnett, Susan Beidler, Ashley Barber, and Lisa Reyes-Walsh from Kennesaw State University’s Wellstar School of Nursing (WSON) received a $1.2 million grant from the Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust for their two-year project, Nurses Learning About Opioid Use Disorder. The project will prepare nurses from WSON’s bachelor’s and master’s programs to help patients dealing with substance use disorders. Read more >>
   
• Elmira Tolentino, an international nursing student from the Arellano University International Nursing Program in the Philippines, is now at West Virginia University (WVU) to complete her last year of the 3-plus-1 program. Arellano University has partnered with the WVU School of Nursing to continue their international nursing program. Since the new partnership began, Ms. Tolentino is the first student to attend WVU. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Cordelia Nnedu has been named the new dean of the Tuskegee University School of Nursing and Allied Health. The nurse educator, nurse practitioner, and midwife has been a Tuskegee University faculty member for over three decades. She received her BSN from the University of Northern Colorado, her MSN from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and her PhD from Auburn University. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Rene Love has been named dean of the School of Nursing at Old Dominion University. Previously, she was at the University of Florida where, since 2020, she has served as associate dean for Academic Affairs--Graduate Clinical Education and a clinical professor. She earned her BSN at Valdosta State University, her master’s degree and DNP at Vanderbilt University, and her PhD at the University of Arizona. Dr. Love will begin her new duties April 1, 2025. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Terri Rebmann has been selected as the inaugural divisional dean of the School of Nursing at the George Mason University College of Public Health. Previously, she served for 25 years at Saint Louis University (SLU). While at SLU, she was the director of the Institute for Biosecurity and Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Rebmann earned her PhD in Nursing from SLU; her MSN from the University of Missouri, Columbia; and her BSN from Truman State University. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Mary Lou Sole, dean of the University of Central Florida College of Nursing, is among five healthcare professionals worldwide — and only two nursing professionals — to receive the Master of Critical Care Medicine designation from the Society of Critical Care Medicine. The honorees were recognized in a ceremony during the 2025 Critical Care Congress held in Orlando, February 24, 2025. Read more >>
   
• Marquette University has received a $7.5 million gift from the Richard L. Boland Love for Life Foundation, Inc., to endow the Institute for Natural Family Planning in the College of Nursing. Marquette is the only university in the United States to have an institute that provides a natural family planning teacher training program for practicing health professionals. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Shiloh A. Williams, an assistant professor at San Diego State University (SDSU) School of Nursing Imperial Valley, has been honored with a 2025 National Rural Health Association (NRHA) Fellowship. As one of 18 fellows selected, Dr. Williams will collaborate with health leaders to address rural health challenges, focusing on health literacy in predominantly Hispanic, Spanish-speaking communities. Read more >>
   
• University of Pennsylvania Nursing Dean Antonia M. Villarruel has joined over 70 leaders in releasing the Vision for American Science and Technology (VAST), a strategic plan to maintain U.S. global leadership in innovation. Spearheaded by the non-partisan Science and Technology Action Committee (STAC), VAST aims to reduce inefficiencies, empower a versatile workforce, and drive breakthroughs addressing societal challenges and national security. Read more >>
   
• The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis has earned accreditation from the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs for its Doctor of Nursing Practice – Nurse Anesthesia (DNP-NA) degree program. This milestone marks the first DNP-NA program within the University of California system and only the sixth in California. The inaugural cohort will begin in June. Read more >>

February 2025

• Elmira College (EC) received a $150,000 grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation’s Healthcare Workforce program. The grant will fuel EC’s “Growing Future Nurses: Cultivating Holistic Care Providers Through Innovative Simulation Education” program that supports EC’s continued focus on quality hands-on experiences to train the next generation of professional nurses. Read more >>
   
• Siena College received a $250,000 grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to address the nursing faculty shortage in New York by creating the Pathway to PhD scholarship, which will fund two master’s prepared nurses to pursue a PhD in nursing. Siena is currently soliciting applications for this scholarship. If you would like more information about this opportunity, or directions on how to apply, please email Dr. Jennifer (Jenna) Thate at jthate@siena.edu. Read more >>
   
• Washburn University received a historic donation of $50 million from alumni Greg and Ronda Brenneman. The gift to the public university in Topeka, Kansas will be used in part to fund the construction of a new health education facility that brings together all health-related disciplines. The gift will also help transform Washburn's business and nursing schools; the former will now be known as the Gregory D. and Ronda K. Brenneman School of Business for the couple, who met while attending the university in the 1980s. Read more >>
   
• AACN welcomes two new members to the Health Policy Advisory Council (HPAC) for the 2025-2027 term: Sofia Aragon from the Washington Center for Nursing and Michele Diaz-Nelson from University of California – San Francisco. Established in 2015, HPAC provides expert guidance on health policy issues impacting academic nursing, with members selected for their diverse areas of expertise. Read more >>
   
• Florida Atlantic University has named Dr. Cameron G. Duncan as the new Holli Rockwell Trubinsky Eminent Dean of the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Terri Robemann has been selected as the inaugural Divisional Dean of the School of Nursing by The George Mason University College of Public Health. The appointment reflects the critical role of the School of Nursing in achieving the mission of the college and delivering health and well-being for all. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Rene Love has been named dean of Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences Ellmer School of Nursing at Old Dominion University. Dr. Love will begin her new duties April 1, 2025. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Bridgitte Gourley, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and director of the DNP Family Nurse Practitioner specialty, has been inducted as an inaugural fellow of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU). The ACU is a multidisciplinary organization that strives to establish a robust and diverse workforce to help transform communities and achieve health equity. Read more >>

January 2025

• The University of South Carolina College of Nursing received a RO1 grant from the National Cancer Institute to dismantle barriers to treatment and reduce disparities in lung and colon cancer care outcomes. Led by Dr. Swann Adams, the five-year grant will integrate diverse data sources to create a comprehensive, population-based dataset that captures racial, socio-economic, and geographic differences. Guided by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities research framework, Dr. Adams’ multi-disciplinary team will address disparities through a co-learning community approach. Read more >>
   
• The University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing was one of three organizations in Illinois to receive funding from the Illinois Department of Public Health intended to increase access to safe abortions from skilled providers. The grant is creating the Reproductive Advocacy and Diversity in Advanced Nursing Training (RADIANT) Learning Collaborative. RADIANT faculty are implementing six trainings with cohorts of nurse practitioners and certified nurse-midwives from across the state of Illinois, offering hands-on, mentored training experiences in clinical reasoning, patient interactions, safe abortion care and integration into practice. Read more >>
   
• The Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, in collaboration with the University at Buffalo School of Nursing, received a five-year, $2.11 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to establish the Roswell Park/University at Buffalo Oncology Nurse Scientist Training Program. This initiative will provide advanced research training in clinical translational research to two to three PhD-level nurses annually. Read more >>
   
• Rush University College of Nursing received a $1 million gift from the Bedford Falls Foundation to expand clinical training for students and improve care for marginalized populations in Chicago through the Joanne and William Conway Faculty Practice Fund. The funding will increase student participation and training hours at faculty practice sites, enabling expanded pediatric and mental health care for underserved groups, including children in subsidized housing and individuals experiencing homelessness. Read more >>
   
• Montclair State University received a $599,998 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to implement the MSU Diagnosis to Recovery initiative. Led by Dr. Brenda Marshall and Dr. Rosita Rodrigues, the program will integrate substance use disorder (SUD) education, training, and mental health first aid certification into all graduate nursing programs. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Ann-Margaret Navarra, Associate Professor at Stony Brook University School of Nursing, has been named to a national fellowship program that will examine social determinants of health (SDOH) in the context of eliminating healthcare inequities in the United States. She is among the first of 10 “innovators” selected by the Institute for Policy Solutions at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing for the Nursing Science Incubator for SDOH Solutions Fellowship. Read more >>
   
• The University of Maryland School of Nursing’s Dr. Bridgitte Gourley, Associate Professor; Director of the DNP FNP specialty; and Co-Director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore Center for Interprofessional Education, has been inducted as an inaugural fellow of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved. Read more >>
   
• Dr. Meagan Whisenant has been named director of the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Nursing program at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston. She will take over leadership of the PhD program at a time of substantial growth within the Department of Research. Read more >>

Go to 2022 Archives

Go to 2023 Archives

Go to 20234 Archives