The following UNMC College of Nursing faculty, staff and students recently celebrated achievements:
Nick Guenzel, PhD, and Rachel Kunkle, PhD, were accepted into the 2024-25 UNMC E-Learning Awards Program, which will come with resources and funding. Guenzel’s module is titled “Pharmacogenomic testing Interpretation in Psychiatric Treatment.” Kunkle’s module is titled “Critical Incident Stress Debriefing in Healthcare Education.”
Breanna Hetland, PhD, was honored as a New Investigator at the 2024 UNMC Distinguished Scientists award ceremony on Nov. 14. The New Investigator Award is given to outstanding UNMC scientists who in the past two years have secured their first funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense or other national sources.
Breanna Hetland, PhD, was named the Faculty Entrepreneur award winner at the 2024 UNeMed Corporation Innovation Awards for her startup, Family Room, which aids communication between families and care providers at intensive care units.
Five College of Nursing faculty members were recognized in October as part of the UNMC Circle of Distinction. The Circle of Distinction event recognized the recipients of endowed chairs, professorships and fellowships – the highest academic awards the university can bestow on a faculty member – as well as the benefactors who supported them. New College of Nursing members include:
- Windy Alonso, PhD: Gail and Jim Anderson Professor of Nursing generously given by Gail and Jim Anderson
- Susan Barnason, PhD: Christine Heide Sorensen Professor of Nursing generously given by Gladys E. Sorensen, EdD
- Pam Johnson-Carlson, DNP: Diane Duren and Drew Collier Chief Nursing Officer Chair generously given by Drew R. Collier and Diane K. Duren through Children’s Nebraska
- Roxanne Vandermause, PhD: Gladys E. Sorensen Endowed Chair in Nursing generously given by Gladys E. Sorensen, EdD
- Joachim Voss, PhD: Charlotte Peck Lienemann and Alumni Distinguished Chair in Nursing generously given by the Ethel S. Abbott Charitable Foundation Inc., Mrs. Helen D. Biegert, Lienemann Charitable Foundation Inc. and alumni of the college.
Jayme Weber and Tiffany Whitney, doctoral students at the College of Nursing, were nominated and accepted to present as part of the Rising Star of Research and Scholarship Invited Student Poster at Sigma’s Creating Healthy Work Environments, March 28-30.
Brandon Varilek, PhD, has been selected as a 2025 Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation (HPNF) Emerging Leaders Award recipient. This honor is designed to celebrate and encourage early career hospice and palliative nurses.
The Sigma Gamma Pi at-Large Chapter announced its 2024 Fall Award recipients.
The following students from the UNMC College of Nursing earned awards:
- Lauren Loyd, Sr. Patricia Miller Evidence Based Practice Award and the Muriel Munchrath Scholarship for her proposal Discovering Conceptual Congruency of Moral Distress in New Graduate Nurses.
- Kirsten Hepburn, Sr. Patricia Miller Evidence Based Practice Award for her proposal Ectopic Pregnancy and the Electronic Health Record: Illuminating a Dark Corner in Women’s Health.
- Kelsey Miller, Muriel Munchrath Scholarship for her DNP Project Proposal.
- Kia Sellers-Scott, Muriel Munchrath Scholarship to fund her PhD in Nursing.
Suhasini Kotcherlakota, PhD, was selected by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to assist with the development of the Holistic Ecosystem of Excellence in Nursing Education Faculty toolkit. The toolkit will build on the previous work on the Inclusive Excellence Ecosystem for Academic Nursing and the faculty tool kit.
Jill Reed, PhD, and Rebecca Swanson, DNP, have been named NurseTRUST Emerging Leader Fellows in the 2024 cohort after recently completing the eight-month fellowship program. This program focuses on six key competencies that are essential for emerging leaders to master: self-awareness, learning agility, communication, political savvy, influencing outcomes, and motivating others.
Beth Beam, PhD, received funding through a collaborative effort with the office of the UNMC Vice Chancellor of Research for her CS-CASH Pilot Program grant proposal. The award is for $20,000 with work being completed over a 12-month period. It will be used to investigate the potential benefit of using the BEAM helmet in agricultural workers.
Stephanie Burge, DNP, Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center – UNMC College of Nursing – Kearney Division, has been selected as the Nebraska awardee for the American Association of Nurse Practitioners State Award for Outstanding Contributions. She will be honored at the AANP conference in June.
Kelly Gonzales, PhD, will receive the UNMC Impact in Education Award for Visionary in Leadership in Education at the UNMC Impact in Education Awards ceremony on March 14 at the Durham Research Center I. Members of the Interprofessional Academy of Educators (IAE) award committee acknowledged the support demonstrated for Dr. Gonzales through the strong letters of support for her application.
Mary Isaacson, PhD, recently received the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Scientific Poster Abstract Award at the Annual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care in Denver, CO for her poster, Efficacy Trial Results of a Culture-Centric Palliative Care Message for American Indians.
Several UNMC College of Nursing students presented at the annual Nebraska Nurse Practitioner Conference. Emily Lydiatt, Lindsay Thompson and Madison Tharmer won Best Overall Poster Presentation on Palliative Care Education for Heart Failure Patients. Amy Murlowski presented on Empowering Nurses to Enhance Labor Support and Promote Respectful Maternity Care Using the Coping with Labor Algorithm. Jamie Granatowicz and Laura Rogers presented on Measuring Effectiveness of a Mobility Aide on a Medical Surgical Units.
Courtney Loecker, PhD, has been selected to the AGING Initiative Multiple Chronic Conditions (MCCs) Scholars program. This NIH-funded pairs scholars with senior scientific mentors and members of the Insights and Perspectives for Patients and Care Partners Panel (IP4) based on shared research interests. The MCCs Scholars Program aims to foster a nationwide community and mentoring network to extend and sustain MCCs research.
Nick Guenzel, PhD, has been selected to participate in the University Psychedelic Education Program (U-PEP). The groundbreaking initiative is designed to broaden access to education about the therapeutic use of psychedelic medicines by equipping university faculty with essential knowledge and resources to develop and integrate evidence-based, culturally responsive psychedelic content into the curriculum.
Douglas Haas, DNP, Melissa Florell, PhD, and Haley Hays, DNPhave been selected for the 2025 NurseTRUST Emerging Leaders Fellowship Program. The program is designed for high-potential nurse leaders preparing to move into a new or first-time leadership role, those early in their leadership journey, and/or those transitioning to a leadership role in a new context or setting, and commitment to advancing the nursing profession.