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.

Heather Mernitz, MS, PhD
Professor
Alverno College

Heather Mernitz has a BA in Chemistry from Kalamazoo College (MI), and an MS and PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism from Tufts University (MA). Heather is a Professor of Physical Science at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she teaches courses in chemistry, biochemistry, and quantitative literacy. Heather is the Chair of the Council for Student Assessment at Alverno and serves as a consultant on principles and practices of ability-based education and assessment. Heather is experienced in the design and implementation of an all-college external assessment and has led numerous workshops for college faculty on the design and use of active, collaborative, contextual curriculum for undergraduate chemistry majors. Currently, she is focused on building efficient tools and systems to support faculty-driven program assessment.

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 Profe ssions 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.

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.

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.

Panelists

Georges Benjamin, MD, MACP, FACEP(E), FNAPA, Hon FRSPH, Hon FFPH
Executive Director
American Public Health Association

Dr. Benjamin is known as one of the nation’s most influential physician leaders because he speaks passionately and eloquently about the health issues having the most impact on our nation today. From his firsthand experience as a physician, he knows what happens when preventive care is not available and when the healthy choice is not the easy choice. As executive director of APHA since 2002, he is leading the Association’s push to make America the healthiest nation in one generation.

At APHA, Benjamin also serves as publisher of the nonprofit's monthly publication, The Nation's Health, the association's official newspaper, and the American Journal of Public Health, the profession’s premier scientific publication. He is the author of more than 100 scientific articles and book chapters. His recent book The Quest for Health Reform: A Satirical History is an exposé of the nearly 100-year quest to ensure quality affordable health coverage for all through the use of political cartoons. Benjamin is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (Formally the Institute of Medicine) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine and also serves on the boards for many organizations including Research!America and the Reagan-Udall Foundation. In 2008, 2014 and 2016 he was named one of the top 25 minority executives in health care by Modern Healthcare Magazine, in addition to being voted among the 100 most influential people in health care from 2007-2017.

Deborah Trautman, PhD, RN, FAAN
President and Chief Executive Officer
American Association of Colleges of Nursing

Dr. Deborah Trautman assumed the role of AACN’s President and C hief Executive Officer in June 2014. Formerly the Executive Director of the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Transformation at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Trautman has held clinical and administrative leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. She also served as the Vice President of Patient Care Services for Howard County General Hospital and as Director of Nursing for Emergency Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Since her appointment at AACN, Deb has been asked to join a number of high-profile boards and advisory groups. The Secretary of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Special Medical Advisory Group (SMAG), which advises the VA Secretary on matters related to healthcare delivery, research, education, training of healthcare staff and planning on shared care issues facing VA and the Department of Defense. In addition, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) named her program director of the New Careers in Nursing project, and her colleagues with the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) elected her to serve as Chair as of 2019. She also serves on the Joint Commission’s Chief Nurse Executive Council.