The Center for Professional Development and Scholarship in the School of Nursing serves as a hub to support faculty in pedagogical expertise and scholarly activities by assisting them in the planning, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of innovative teaching strategies through manuscript authorship, educational grants, and professional presentations. Under the leadership of Dr. Nicole Murry, the Center’s Director, and Dr. Lorraine Walker, the Center’s Co-Director, this Center plays an important role in supporting faculty in their teaching and scholarly endeavors.
Mission
The mission of this Center is to provide comprehensive support mechanisms tailored to nursing faculty, addressing the need for innovative teaching strategies in all classrooms and enhanced guidance for professional track and newly hired tenure-track faculty in scholarly activities (manuscript authorship, professional presentations, etc.).
Goals
Listen: Meet regularly with professional track and new Assistant Professors to gain a better understanding of their needs related to pedagogical expertise and active engagement in scholarly activities.
Plan: Maintain a list of faculty needs and structure Center activities to address the most common issues. View the Faculty Needs Related to Professional Development & Scholarship (PDF).
Engage: Collaborate with on-campus resources to facilitate workshops and trainings focused on active engagement in scholarship and effective teaching strategies. Share successes publicly of faculty who engage in teaching excellence and scholarly activities.
Background
As the US healthcare system becomes more complex and advances in technology and medicine continue to lengthen the lives of chronically ill patients, the need for highly skilled nurses has never been greater. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2023), the need for Registered Nurses is expected to increase by 6% over the next 10 years, however it is likely that this number is much greater as the Covid-19 pandemic significantly impacted the nursing workforce – the full effect not yet calculated. Compounding this issue is the critical shortage of nursing educators. The results of a survey by the American Association of Colleges in Nursing (2023) suggest that among 922 schools of nursing, there was a reported 10% vacancy rate for nursing faculty. Increased workload demands and willingness to conduct research were identified as contributing factors. To retain the high caliber nursing faculty that we currently employ and to help in recruiting the next generation of nursing faculty, the Center for Professional Development and Scholarship launched in January 2024 to serve as a hub for supporting faculty in pedagogical expertise and scholarly activities.
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Registered Nurses, (visited November 28, 2023).
Nurse.org. (2023). This is the state of nursing (PDF). Retrieved November 28, 2023.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2023). Special survey on vacant faculty positions for academic year 2023-2024 (PDF). Retrieved November 28, 2023.