Current Courses
Spring 2025
-
GERON 6975-101
Masters Project -
INTMD 7035-001
Geriatric Medicine
Fall 2024
Summer 2024
Professional Organizations
- Western Institute of Nursing Gerontology Special Interest Group. 05/2019 - 05/2021. Position : Treasurer.
- National Association of Geriatric Educators . 01/01/2019 - present. Position : Board Member.
- American Geriatrics Association. 11/01/2018 - present. Position : Member.
- Western Institute of Nursing. 07/01/2017 - present. Position : Program Committee.
- National Hartford Center of Gerontolgic Nursing Excellence. 01/2011 - 12/2018. Position : Board Member since 2016.
- Western Institute of Nursing. 01/2010 - present. Position : Member.
- Gerontological Society of American. 01/2010 - present. Position : Member.
- Western Institute of Nursing Gerontology Special Interest Group. 01/2010 - present. Position : Member.
- American Nurses Society. 01/2007 - present. Position : Member.
- Sigma Theta Tau, Gamma Rho Chapter. 01/2003 - present. Position : Member.
Teaching Philosophy
"The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind."
-- Kahlil Gibran
I teach because I am passionate about the science and the art of nursing. Like most nurses, I graduated from nursing school with the idea that the essence of nursing was in the technical skills I could perform. Only later did I realize that nursing is so much more than being a task master; there is an art to nursing involving compassion and instinct and intellect. The science of nursing helps heal bodies while the art of nursing promotes well being. The nurse who has mastered both can work with other health care professions to provide holistic care. My teaching philosophy centers on this balance of science and art. I uphold the constuctivist paradigm of student centered learning where my role is to facilitate the construction of knowledge, stimulate curiosity and promote independent thinking. As a nursing educator I know that I cannot be the “sage of the stage”; the science of nursing is changing too fast for students to rely on the memorization of facts or the attainment of skills that may be obsolete tomorrow. Rather, I must be the “guide on the side” encouraging my students to be responsible life-long learners, to adapt to change, to collaborate with other disciplines, to search for the evidence, and to do all these things with confidence. I believe these skills will empower them to stand along-side other health care providers, policy makers and researchers to provide patient centered holistic care.
"In education it isn't how much you have committed to memory or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't. It's knowing where to go to find out what you need to know and it's knowing how to use the information you get."
--William Feather
I teach graduate nursing, DNP and PhD, students in a variety of subjects including Pathophysiology and Evidence Based Practice. Knowledge of the pathophysiology of disease is important for advanced nurse practitioners in order to understand the complex response the human body has to disease. I strive to provide students with a basic foundation of cellular biology and biochemistry upon which they can build their knowledge of human disease processes. Most nurses have a rudimentary knowledge of nursing research and evidence based practice, however many do not understand how they can use evidence based practice and the research supporting it to improve the care they give their nursing students. My goal when teaching these classes is to use practice based examples of how research can be used to inform practice decisions.
“Knowledge does not come packaged in books, or journals, or computer discs (or professors’ and students’ heads) to be transmitted intact from one to another.”
--Allison King
I use a variety of teaching modalities. The didactic courses I teach have between 20 and 80 students per class and often are in a synchronous blended format with students live in the classroom or online. My goal is to facilitate the attainment of knowledge by providing students with information that can be used in conjunction with their own experiences to construct new knowledge. Even though many of the courses are lecture intense, I encourage students to engage in active learning activities to improve their understanding of concepts. I work hard to be a role model for life-long learning by acknowledging that I am not always the expert and that I continually search the literature for new information to share with them – information that could make a difference in how someone’s disease is diagnosed or treated. I continually assess student process through quizzes and exams as well as individual and group presentations.
Perhaps the most rewarding teaching experiences I have include working in one on one or in small groups with students. I advise and serve as dissertation chairperson for PhD students. In addition, I mentor pre-nursing and graduate nursing students as they conduct research. I involve the students in every aspect of the research process. Beginning with the identification of a problem, I guide them through a review of the literature, conceptualization of research questions, hypothesis generation, and conduct of the research. I encourage them to interact with researchers inside and outside of nursing to ensure that their research findings are disseminated and built upon.
“In any field, excellent teaching requires critical reflection, continuous learning, the capacity to change and to question change, and ongoing development. In nursing, it also requires advanced knowledge of the practice”
–- Benner et al.
My teaching style in the classroom has evolved. I recognize that as a new professor teaching Pathophysiology I was insecure in both my knowledge of the subject and my ability to convey appropriate and relevant information to my students. My lectures were content heavy. I was a “sage on the stage”. Each year I have incorporated more active learning activities into the class. Each year the students are more enthusiastic.
I believe that constructive feedback and personal introspection is vital to improve my teaching style.Therefore, I seek and respond to student comments and reviews. I use teaching reviews by colleagues and expert educators from the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence to guide changes I make in the course. In addition, I attend seminars and courses opportunities to help me better my own teaching style.
I strive to be a master teacher; one who engages her students in learning through a variety of ways. One who guides them in their own individualized quests for knowledge. I hope that I impart upon them the understanding that the quest is never ending; but in the journey they will recognize their potential to influence the lives of the patients they care for.
Student Projects
- Resilience in long term care. Emmie Msiska. 08/15/2016 - 12/15/2016
- Mental illness and older adult injuries. Lindsay Arslanian, Laura Swinyard. 08/2014 - 05/2016
- The influences of geography, health and injury severity on trauma triage of older adults. David Baraghoshi, Magen Tominay, David Zobell. 01/2014 - 05/2016
- Treatment Trajectories for Injured Older Adults from Rural Areas. Laura Swinyard. 08/01/2011 - 05/01/2012