On-Demand Webinars

Speakers

Gerry Altmiller, EdD, APRN, ACNS-BC, ANEF, FAAN
Professor, The College of New Jersey School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science; Director
The College of New Jersey Quality and Safety Innovation Center

Gerry Altmiller is a professor of nursing at The College of New Jersey, a clinical nurse specialist consultant for Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has pioneered the integration of quality and safety competencies in nursing education since 2006 when she served as a faculty leader for one of the 15 pilot schools for the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Collaboration. She currently is a national consultant for QSEN and director of the Quality and Safety Innovation Center at The College of New Jersey. She leads the QSEN Academic Task Force, creating opportunities for its 110 members to network, share ideas, and conduct academic focused research. Dr. Altmiller authored the Teamwork and Communication Module of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s Transition to Practice program and in 2014 she received a Lindback Award for distinguished teaching. Her work on constructive feedback led to the development, testing, and dissemination of support tools for nurse educators and learning tools for students to view feedback as an opportunity. Dr. Altmiller was co-editor of a special QSEN issue of Nurse Educator and currently serves on the journal’s editorial board. Her research focuses on clinical evaluation, QSEN integration, and communication challenges in educational and practice environments.

Speaker

Cynthia Clark, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN
Professor Emeritus
Boise State University

Dr. Cynthia Clark is the Founder of Civility Matters LLC, Professor Emeritus at Boise State University, and a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the NLN Academy of Nursing Education. Her seminal work on fostering civility has brought national and international attention to the controversial issues of incivility in academic and practice environments. Her theory-driven interventions, empirical measurements, theoretical models, and reflective assessments provide best practices to create healthy workplaces around the globe.

Dr. Clark’s many awards include 3-time recipient of the Most Inspirational Professor Award, NLN Excellence in Educational Research Award, Journal of Nursing Education Christine A. Tanner Scholarly Writing Award, Elizabeth Russell Belford Award for Excellence in Education, awarded by Sigma Theta Tau, and the AACN John P. McGovern Lectureship Award.

Dr. Clark's current research includes bridging the education-practice gap to create positive work cultures; designing and testing empirical instruments; integrating civility and inclusion into nursing curricula; and conducting intervention studies to measure the effectiveness of cognitive rehearsal. Her presentations number in the hundreds, her publications have appeared in a broad range of peer-reviewed and open-access venues, and her empirical instruments have been translated into 16 languages and used in more than 30 countries. Her book, Creating and Sustaining Civility in Nursing Education is a must-read for all educators and healthcare professionals. Dr. Clark’s upcoming book, Core Competencies of Civility for Nursing and Healthcare will be available Spring 2022.

Speakers

Larry Slater, PhD, RN-BC, CNE, FAAN
Interim Dean
Clinical Professor
University of Memphis

Dr. Slater provides expertise in the design and implementation of active, learner-driven strategies in nursing education; curriculum development, improvement, and assessment with a focus on technology-enhanced education; program outcomes assessment and accreditation; and faculty/staff governance in academia.

Dr. Slater received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing and his PhD in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing in Birmingham, Alabama, where he also completed post-doctoral training examining social support, health, and quality of life in older adults living with HIV/AIDS. His clinical area in nursing was neurosurgical intensive care, with a focus on quality improvement and evidence-based practice. For his work in academia, Dr. Slater has received numerous awards for teaching excellence, including from New York University (Teaching Excellence Award), the American Nurses Association-New York (Nursing Education Award) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (Novice Faculty Excellence in Didactic Teaching). Dr. Slater also completed the Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy through Sigma Theta Tau International, the Honor Society of Nursing, and a fellowship in the Leadership in Academic Nursing Program through the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Dr. Slater is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the New York Academy of Medicine. He is an active member and leader in several professional organizations, currently serving as Chair of the Committee on Bylaws for the American Nurses Association, as Secretary for the Foundation of the National Student Nurses Association, as a member of the National League for Nursing Certification Commission, and as a member of the Steering Committee for Sigma Theta Tau International, the Honor Society of Nursing.

Speakers

Mary Starks, BS, RN, CNOR
FNP and DNP Student
University of Rochester

Mary Starks is an accomplished graduate student in the dual family nurse practitioner master’s and doctorate program at the University of Rochester School of Nursing (URSON). She completed her first bachelor’s degree in anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). After graduating, she worked three years as a neuroscience researcher in the Geschwind laboratory at UCLA, studying immunohistochemistry in relation to Autism. She decided that she wanted to pursue a career in nursing and left her residence in Los Angeles to pursue her bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of Rochester School of Nursing in the accelerated program for non-nurses (APNN). After graduating from nursing school, she accepted a position at Strong Memorial Hospital in the adult operating room. She currently works there as a skilled vascular surgery nurse and preceptor. In addition to her full-time position, Mary is an active member in her local National Black Nurses Association chapter, the Rochester Black Nurses Association (RBNA). She is a founding member of the local chapter and the chapter’s first vice president. She currently is the founder and chair of the RBNA mentoring program in partnership with the URSON’s APNN program, where she and other Black nurses mentor nursing students of color. She is also an active student member in the Nurse Practitioner Association of New York State (NPA) where she is a diversity, equity, and inclusion committee member and 2021 Nurse Practitioner Student of the Year. After completing her graduate program, Mary plans to work in primary care. Her passion is caring for those with chronic diseases, especially African-American patients. She plans to continue her advocacy for Black patients and students through her continued work in RBNA and other organizations and mentoring programs.

Lucia Diaz, ANP-BC, CUNP
DNP Student
Clarion and Edinboro Universities

Lucia is a bilingual dual certified nurse practitioner in adult and urology specialties. She obtained her BSN-MSN degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and is currently completing her DNP degree from Clarion and Edinboro Universities in consortium. She has over twelve years of experience as a nurse practitioner providing culturally sensitive urological care to one of the most diverse populous counties in the nation, Los Angeles County. As one of the lead NPs champions in her organization, Lucia is continuously advocating for ways to improve access to care, health promotion, and patient outcomes. In 2020 she was nominated for the AUA’s Nurse Practitioner of the Year award, the AANP NP State Award for Excellence, and she received the Community Champion Award from the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association. Her feature in the Johns Hopkins Magazine speaks about the wholistic care she delivers and her advocacy efforts for the underserved communities. While serving on the Angeles County Department of Health Services Nurse Practitioner Advisory Committee, Lucia represented the voice of over 100 NPs in her institution and 400 NPs in LA County. She remains a mentor to both novice and seasoned nurse practitioners, passionately advocating for NP awareness, professional development, and interprofessional collaboration. Through leadership and social advocacy, Lucia hopes to continue being the voice of her community beyond the local, state, and national level, to improve the health of all underserved communities on a global platform.

Alden Bush, MS, MPH, RN
DNP Student
Columbia University

Alden Bush was born and raised in Miami, Florida to a Honduran family. He is a first-generation college graduate and first-generation American. Alden began his academic career at the Universidad Iberoamericana School of Medicine in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he completed premed, basic sciences, and one year of clinical rotations, before having to change career paths due to unforeseen circumstances. He transferred to the US and attended the University of Florida for his undergraduate studies in psychology and then completed an MPH in public health practice and management at the University of New England. Alden first went to Columbia to become a master’s prepared registered nurse, at the Columbia University School of Nursing, where he was both a William Randolph Hearst Foundation and Rudin Opportunities Nursing Scholar. He has been an active student leader throughout his time at Columbia Nursing, having served as University Senator, member of the Student Council E-Board, and sitting on a number of committees dedicated to anti-racist pedagogy and culture. Currently, he is a doctoral student in the Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program and was recently named a 2021-2023 Jonas Scholar. Alden values nursing’s holistic approach to disease and its emphasis on individuals’ lived experiences. He is an outspoken advocate for health justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. As a doctorally prepared Psychiatric NP, he aspires to provide comprehensive mental and primary health care in minority and safety-net communities.

Audrey White, MSN, FNP-C, MHAI, MBA, DOT-CME
DNP Student
Chamberlain University

Audrey White has years of experience in cardiology. Her primary focus is empowering patients to decrease their cardiovascular risk factors to improve their overall health and wellbeing. She is currently working on research that focuses on reducing cardiovascular risk factors and disparities in our communities.

Speaker

Gwen Sherwood, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF
Professor Emeritus
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Dr. Gwen D. Sherwood was a Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing. Her program of scholarship evolved from a model for caring relationships which led to examination of patient satisfaction with pain management, particularly from a multicultural perspective and the development of a Spanish Language tool, the Houston Pain Outcome Instrument. She also applied the caring model to spiritual dimensions of care and the impact on healthy work environments and helped develop the Methodist Caring Tool to examine patient satisfaction with caring. Through her work at the University of Texas at Houston School of Nursing she was co-investigator with the Medical School’s Center for Patient Safety to examine teamwork as a variable in patient safety.

Dr. Sherwood is co-investigator on Phases I, II, III, and IV of the award winning Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to transform nursing curriculum to prepare nurses in quality and safety for redesigned health care systems. She was a nursing leader for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University Inter-professional Patient Safety Education Collaborative to measure effectiveness of teaching modalities for interdisciplinary teamwork training involving nursing and medical students. She participates in the annual Telluride Science Institute on interprofessional education with the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a member of the National Patient Safety Foundation Research Committee. She has been a leader in developing nursing education across borders, working with nursing faculty in China, Thailand, Macau, Mexico, England, and Kenya.

She is Past President of the International Association for Human Caring and served two terms as Vice President of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing.

Speakers

Margaret Rauschenberger, MSN, RN
Professor, Dean of Nursing Emerita, and Associate Dean
School of Adult Learning and New Initiatives
Alverno College

Peg Rauschenberger, MSN, RN, is an associate dean in the School of Adult Learning and New Initiatives in charge of health related programming, and the dean emerita of Alverno College's JoAnn McGrath School of Nursing and Health Professions. She has been consulting and lecturing since 1997, and has presented numerous workshops nationally and internationally on topics including ability-based education, nursing education, child and adolescent mental health care, nursing in corrections, conflict resolution, stress management and the effects of stress on health.

Judeen Schulte, PhD, RN
Professor
JoAnn McGrath School of Nursing and Health Professions
Alverno College

Judeen Schulte, PhD, OSF, is a professor of Nursing at Alverno College where she has taught since 1980. In addition to her nursing expertise, Schulte has given presentations on Alverno’s abilities-based curriculum across the country, as well as around the world. She has also served as a consultant to several universities here and abroad on performance assessment, student learning and abilities-based curricula.

Ann Van Eerden, MSN, MS, RN
Associate Professor
JoAnn McGrath School of Nursing and Health Professions
Alverno College

Ann Van Eerden, MSN, MS, RN, CNE, NCSN, is an associate professor of nursing in the JoAnn McGrath School of Nursing and Health Professions at Alverno College. She also serves as the director of both the Undergraduate Nursing Program and the Health Education Program. She has nearly 40 years of nursing experience and has been teaching since 2008.

Speaker

Colleen Leners, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, FAAN FAANP
Director of Policy
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)

Dr. Colleen Leners is the Director of Policy at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), which serves as the national voice of academic nursing. Dr. Leners was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow in the office of Senator John Thune (R-SD) of the Senate Finance Committee. She has maintained an active family nurse practitioner practice for over 25 years and has served our country in the United States Army Nurse Corps, which after multiple deployments overseas was honorably discharged. She has many notable achievements both civilian and military, she has been inducted as a Fellow Academy of Nursing, Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and awarded the Bronze Star for her service overseas.

Dr. Leners has served as the Traumatic Brain Injury Program manager, created a nurse-managed primary care clinic for Wounded Warriors at Navy Medical Center San Diego. She has also been a registered nurse and nurse practitioner for three decades. She received her DNP in Leadership from Case Western Reserve University, MSN FNP from University of San Diego and her BSN from California State University Dominguez Hills.

Speakers

Casey R. Shillam, PhD, RN
Dean and Professor
University of Portland School of Nursing

Dr. Casey Shillam is a Professor at the University of Portland, School of Nursing. Dr. Shillam completed her PhD and MSN degrees at the Oregon Health and Science University in 2008 and 2004, respectively. She joined the faculty of University of Portland in 2008 after working as a home health nurse at Signature Home Health. Dr. Shillam has taught in both the undergraduate and graduate programs across many courses. Her research interests include the development of peer-mentoring programs and the referral patterns of older primary care patients to specialty pain management centers. Dr. Shillam served as a member of the former Essentials Task Force.

Marjorie S. Wiggins, DNP, MBA, RN, FAAN, NEA-BC
Chief Nursing Officer
Maine Health System

Marge Wiggins is Chief Nursing Officer of Maine Medical Center. An Adjunct Faculty in USM’s School of Nursing, Marge has published numerous articles and several book chapters on care delivery models. She led MMC’s development of the evidence-based Partnership Care Delivery Model, and consulted in the US and abroad on the topic. She served on several committees for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s efforts to implement the Clinical Nurse Leader role and delivered nearly 40 presentations in 14 states. Marge maintains membership in several professional organizations, including American Organization of Nurse Executives, Organization of Maine Nurse Executives, Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science-Eastern Nurses Research Society, and the Clinical Nurse Leader Association. Dr. Wiggins served as a practice partner member of the former Essentials Task Force.

Speaker

Colleen Leners, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, FAAN FAANP
Director of Policy
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)

Colleen Leners is the Director of Policy at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). AACN serves as the voice of academic nursing, encompassing education, research, and practice. Dr. Leners was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow in the office of Senator John Thune (R-SD) of the Senate Finance Committee. She has maintained an active family nurse practitioner practice for over 25 years and has served our country in the United States Army Nurse Corps, which after multiple deployments overseas was honorably discharged. She has many notable achievements both civilian and military, she has been inducted as a Fellow Academy of Nursing, Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and awarded the Bronze Star for her service overseas.

Dr. Leners has served as the Traumatic Brain Injury Program manager, created a nurse-managed primary care clinic for Wounded Warriors at Navy Medical Center San Diego. She has also been a registered nurse and nurse practitioner for three decades. She received her DNP in Leadership from Case Western Reserve University, MSN FNP from University of San Diego and her BSN from California State University Dominguez Hills.

Speakers

Marta Okoniewski, MPA
Director of Student Engagement
American Association of Colleges of Nursing

Marta Okoniewski, MPA, is the Director of Student Engagement at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). She led the development and launch of the GNSA, a national network providing high value programs, services, and resources to nursing students enrolled in master’s and doctoral programs. Prior to joining AACN, Ms. Okoniewski worked as the Program Coordinator at New York University College of Nursing within the Academic and Clinical Affairs department. She received her master’s in public administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Scranton.

Autumn Spriggs
Student Services Manager
American Association of Colleges of Nursing

Autumn Spriggs is the Student Services Manager at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). She joined AACN in August 2017 to assist the GNSA in achieving its goals of providing high value resources to members and facilitating engagement among graduate nursing students. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and English from Elon University.