The NLN Academy of Nursing Education fosters excellence in nursing education by recognizing and capitalizing on the wisdom of outstanding individuals in and outside the profession who have contributed to nursing education in sustained and significant ways. Comprising a select group of accomplished nurse educators, known as Fellows, the Academy embodies excellence, innovation, and leadership in the realm of nursing education. This spotlight will introduce us to four Fellows each month.
For more information on the Academy of Nursing Education, visit https://www.nln.org/awards-recognition/recognition-programs/academy-of-nursing-education.
Kelly Connor
As the Director of Simulation-based Education and Research, Kelley Connor, PhD, RN, CHSE has made an enduring commitment to nursing education through her pioneering contributions to teaching/learning innovations in simulation and educational technology. She has explored and developed creative and affordable solutions for teaching in-person, online, and virtually. She has disseminated her ideas by teaching and mentoring others in simulation locally, nationally, and around the world.
Audria Denker
Dr. Audria Denker, DNP, MSN, RN, FAADN, ANEF, currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Nursing for Galen College of Nursing and has over 35 years of nursing experience in Pediatric Oncology, leadership, and education. Dr. Denker has responsibility for over 12,000 students in practical/vocational, associate degree, and baccalaureate nursing education programs located in multiple states throughout the country. Her initial journey into nursing was met with considerable adversity. As a teen mother. high -school drop-out, and first-generation college student, she has progressively dedicated personal goals to achieve a GED and subsequent earned degrees in ADN, MSN and DNP programs. Dr. Denker led an initiative to open an associate-degree nursing program in rural eastern Kentucky, her childhood home. Her vision to give back to the community who supported her was realized in October 2018. The campus in Hazard, Kentucky has over 500 graduates and has 400 more currently enrolled.
Selena Gilles
Dr Gilles is an award-winning expert clinician and community leader who, through service and education, has launched effective models that bring under-resourced communities access to healthcare/education, while creating nontraditional community-based immersive learning/interprofessional experiences for entry-to-practice and APRN students. Dr Gilles spearheaded an opioid overdose prevention training program to bring naloxone training to underserved communities’ reaching >750 people, developed and implemented IPE simulations on opioid misuse, and has developed several pain management educational resources.
Brandon Johnson
Brandon Kyle Johnson PhD, RN, CHSE is generating evidence that supports the practice of assigning learners to observer roles in simulation and improving the methods in which nurse educators assess knowledge outcomes in simulation. He developed knowledge instruments that examine knowledge assimilation and accommodation, both of which are outcomes that are foundational to clinical reasoning and facilitated through Debriefing for Meaningful Learning. He has conducted research with multiple teams of researchers nationally and internationally to further the science of simulation in prelicensure nursing programs.