Being an educator has been a lifelong dream. The ability to reach someone through education is one of the things that most attracted me to the profession of nursing.
However, it was not until my own children went off to college and I began to further my own education that I developed a passion for teaching adult students. Adult learners bring a world of knowledge and experience to the classroom making it a richer learning environment. In order to capture that rich experience adult students require a professor that understands and can work with the unique demands adult student’s lives and schedules demand.
My own educational journey was always that of an adult student. I returned to school after military service and then later years after starting my own career as a nurse. That career has led from bedside nursing in the operating room, medical surgical care, oncology and emergency nursing to psychiatric inpatient and outpatient nursing and eventually into leadership.
As a direct result of my own educational journey I was most recently promoted to the Position of Assistant Vice President for Clinical Services with responsibility for Behavioral Health Services, Information Services, and Physician practices. In May 2014 I will be presenting a program on converting data to usable information to improve patient care delivery at the International MUSE Conference in Dallas Texas.