The following is a list of the educators receiving the #iteachmsu Educator Award from the College of Nursing. For more information on these awards, check out the article entitled "#iteachmsu Educator Awards".
Rebecca Boni: Thank you for being an amazing mentor, role model, and friend this past year at MSU. I appreciate our many chats whether it was work, school, or kid related. Your patience and prompt answers to my many questions/concerns was very appreciated. Excited that I am able to call you my friend and mentor!
Betty Buck: I appreciate your input and guidance on nursing matters and the fun we have when we get together! Thank you for being an amazing co-worker and friend!
Patrick Crane: As new faculty for NUR 460, you took the time to meet with me one on one and make sure I understood the course and how to communicate with preceptors-something I had never done before. While I did require a lot of support teaching this course for the first time, you understood and offered all the support and guidance I needed to help me be successful and the students as well. Thank you!
Izabella de Barbaro: Izabella is hands down the most passionate instructor I have had while at MSU and I am so grateful for her patience in teaching and contagious enthusiasm.
Pallav Deka: In the beginning of the semester, Dr. Deka told our pathophysiology class that it would be his first time teaching the class. Usually, it is professors talking about how great it was to see students grow, but this time I'd like to acknowledge how much Dr. Deka has improved already in just one semester. He made the class interesting and enjoyable, even when the information got hard. He was willing to work with students when they needed help and often stayed after class. There was not one single day that Dr. Deka was not willing to go above and beyond for his students, or just be generally kind to them. I hope that Dr. Deka will continue teaching this course, and as he did on the last day of class, finish the lecture slides all at once:) Thank you for a wonderful semester, Dr. Deka!
Jessica Ery: This semester was Dr. Ery's first semester teaching NUR 205 and she did a wonderful job. I feel very prepared to move on to the next step with the base knowledge she has provided us. There are a lot of things Dr. Ery did a lot of great things throughout the semester, but the thing that has made the largest impact on me was not a teaching moment. On our last clinical day, Dr. Ery took a guess at which type of nursing everyone in the clinical group would do. During the semester while I was waiting to find out her prediction for me, I thought it would just be fun to see how my instructor saw me. However, when she told me her guess, pediatric oncology, and the reasons she thought so, it opened my eyes to a type of nursing I had never considered before. Pediatric oncology is now at the top of my interests, but without Dr. Ery I may have never discovered this. So I would like to thank her for not only doing an incredible job of teaching us all, but also for making clinical a fun, safe environment and opening my eyes to an area of nursing that I believe I will one day love being a part of.
Joanne Golbert: Thank you for an amazing semester where you offered me a LOT of support and guidance on student issues that were new to me at MSU. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help me navigate MSU policies and vesting in my success that in turn ensured students' success this semester. Thank you!
Stephanie Gray: Thank you for all the support and willingness to go above and beyond to make a learning event that much better for the DMC students. I appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share that knowledge with me to teach the future of our profession.
Andy Greger: Andy works tirelessly to support faculty and students successful navigation of all things technology to enhance the learning environment. He responds, without hesitation, to urgent calls about computer blue screens, presentation issues, to evaluating software, designing online learning environments, integration of technology and continuous faculty development and support. Most impressive - he is always patient, supportive, and professional.
Jackie Iseler: As my Academic Advisor in both my MSN CNS and now in my post masters DNP program Dr. Iseler has been extremely supportive and encouraging. Dr. Iseler often checks in to see how I am doing with course work and provides support as needed. I have also had Dr. Iseler as course faculty in many of my CNS courses and she always did a great job of incorporating real life examples from her own clinical setting into our instruction providing an authentic learning environment. I would like to thank Dr. Iseler for providing me the support and guidance I need as I work towards achieving my academic goals.
John Mailey John was the best clinical instructor I've ever had, and was by far the most influential in developing my clinical skills, knowledge, and confidence.
Emily McIntire: Emily McIntire is the director of the simulation lab and has developed a program of simulated learning at the College of Nursing that uses the best technology available. However, beyond that, she has amazing skills in developing real life scripted situations that allow nursing students to experience fully the minute to minute consequences of their nursing decisions in a high pressure setting. Over the past two years, Emily and I have been adopting and presenting the first ever community based simulation at the College of Nursing using the Missouri Community Action Network Poverty simulation kit. As we provide this simulation, Emily and I have become aware of the emotional aspect of this experience. She is currently exploring the concept of embodied learning in order to understand how simulation can provide more than kinesthetic based learning, but also help develop emotional intelligence and compassionate based care giving. This project has been presented at the National Conference for the Association of Contemplative Learning in Higher Education and is currently an active IRB based study with a manuscript in process. We can always train intelligent nurses, but exploring how to train wise and compassionate nurses is a more daunting task. I believe Emily McIntire is a champion and leader in this important area.
Kyle Miller: Bio was a hard subject for me to comprehend and Dr.Miller really made it more enjoyable and showed that he really cared when I was having difficulties
Francisika Nekaien: I appreciate the helpful and flexible office hour times and that the professor showed that she genuinely cared about students understanding of the material. I appreciate the professor's down to earth personality and also her patience when I was struggling to understand the material. Getting one on one help time surely help me understand the class material.
Kathleen Poindexter:
a) You are a wonderful leader, teacher, and friend. It is impossible to count the ways that you have helped me to achieve my professional and personal goals. Without you, I would not be the nurse, leader, or educator I am today. Thank you for believing in me and teaching me how to believe in myself.
b) Dr. Poindexter impacted my life tremendously as a graduate student at MSU in the MSN clinical nurse specialist (CNS) program. As a graduate student I had to balance many responsibilities (family/children, full time employment etc.). Dr. Poindexter gave me the support, encouragement, and guidance I needed to continue to achieve my goal of becoming a Masters prepared CNS. Dr. Poindexter was always there when I needed her, once when I was feeling very overwhelmed in my second semester of coursework I called Dr. Poindexter and her and I spoke for almost 2 hours and our conversation helped me to have a renewed sense of confidence and determination, this was a turning point for me in the program. Currently I am faculty in the CON at MSU and a Masters prepared CNS and again with Dr. Poindexter's encouragement and support I am continuing my education to pursue my post masters DNP. Dr. Poindexter is my faculty mentor and is helping me to transition into my faculty role at MSU as well. Dr. Poindexter is great role model and someone I greatly admire and would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank her for the role she has played in my academic and professional career thus far.
c) Thank you for your assistance on my first poster presentation, promotion of an EBP clinical learning environment, and navigating scholarship at MSU. My success (current and future) is because you believed in me and guided me to the path I needed to be on. Thank you!
Amy Pollock: Dr. Pollock was an amazing professor. She knew her subject very well and made it as easy as possible for me to understand the material. She was also very helpful during her office hour and I would definitely have her again!
Lorraine Robbins: Dr. Robbins has provided guidance and support throughout my PhD Nursing Program at Michigan State University. She is always available and willing to share her vast experience in research. She has the nursing research experience to know and adhere to the ethical standards associated with conducting research. Her professionalism and expertise in nursing research should be applauded. Through her research experience she is well versed in conducted research and analyzing data in a detailed and scientific manner to accurately assess the benefits of program interventions. She is able to communicate these skills across all levels of the interdisciplinary research team. She is committed to ensuring efficient, high-impact and well-organized research studies and holds her students to these same standards. She is very deserving of this recognition.
Carol Vermeesch: Thank you for always being available and responding to the many needs and questions I had through the past year. As new faculty, your guidance has made me feel more welcomed at MSU and successful in being a Spartan Nurse!
Anne Thomas (Passed in July): Thank you for being inclusionary of all new faculty. I truly have felt very welcomed and set-up for success at MSU because of the environment you have created among faculty. This environment that is welcoming and supportive does not go unnoticed by our faculty, especially those of us that are new! Thank you!
Anyone can recognize a fellow Spartan for their contributions to MSU's teaching and learning mission or for how they made a lasting impression on your experience. All you have to do is click "Thank an Educator" in the left panel of iteach.msu.edu. From there you'll be directed to a form where you can enter the name, netID, and a short story of the educator you'd like to recognize.
