Faculty Focus Friday is a Q&A series that highlights individual faculty members in various academic programs around Spalding University. This week’s featured faculty member is Dr. Nicky Wright, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing. Dr. Wright, who earned a Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Chamberlain College of Nursing, a master’s (MSN) and bachelor’s (BSN) in nursing from Indiana Wesleyan University, and an associate’s from Galen College, teaches nursing courses at Spalding and serves as the School of Nursing’s Academic Success Coordinator.

What do you like about working and teaching at Spalding?

I just love the learning. The students want to be nurses, and they want to learn and I get to help them critically think. I love seeing them light up at that moment when it clicks and they truly get a new concept.

What is your academic specialty, areas of expertise or research?

Aside from being a nurse I specialize in orthopedics, medical surgery, and education and leadership.

Why is nursing a good option for students to consider for their major?

Nursing is a good option because nurses can help people and they have great flexibility with their career. That flexibility and range of opportunities may include traveling and seeing the world, teaching, serving in leadership, working in clinics, working from home, and working with insurance. The list is endless.

Research is also a great option, especially during COVID-19 times, as the world tries to find treatments and cures. It really is a top-notch option.

SPALDING SCHOOL OF NURSING
* PROGRAM OVERVIEWS | BSN | Accel. BSN (2nd Degree) | Online RN-to-BSN | MSN | Online DNP
* FACULTY BIOS | Meet all our nursing professors

What is an example of a discussion topic, lecture, assignment, project, etc. in your class that you enjoy presenting or working with students on and that they have found engaging?

If we are working on case studies, I like to have students find resources in their community. This may look like having students look at their zip codes and see what resources are there. Then I like students to compare different parts of Louisville and how the resources vary from zip code to zip code. This gives them an idea of what resources are available to our patients and within our community.

What is an interesting thing you have in your office?

Probably a bucket of licorice. I buy candy that I don’t like and give it to my students so that I don’t eat it.

Spalding’s mission is to meet the needs of the times, to emphasize service and to promote peace and justice. What is an example of how your teaching style, your research, your class or your curriculum is supporting the mission of Spalding?

I am very vocal, and I am very passionate. So I tell people all the time that you can’t look on the outside. My younger brother was murdered around the corner from Spalding. So when I took the job down there I wondered how difficult it was going to be for me to work there every day. When he was murdered, I was getting my associate’s degree, and I had to attend clinicals the next day or else I would fail out and have to start the program over. So I put my big-girl panties on, and I went to my clinical and I went to class. I share this with my students all the time. If I can get up the day after my brother passed away, then you can do the same thing. I am so passionate about my students being successful.

FACULTY FOCUS FRIDAY ARCHIVE | Read all our professor Q&A’s

 

Faculty Focus Friday is a Q&A series that highlights individual faculty members in various academic programs around Spalding University. This week’s featured faculty member is Taryn Ray, who is in her first year as Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing after previously serving on the adjunct faculty. Professor Ray teaches in Spalding’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, serving as course instructor for Introduction to Nursing and Maternity Nursing. She is a registered nurse (RN) who earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing (BSN) from the University of Louisville and a master’s in nursing (MSN) from Ball State University. She also holds the credential of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE).

What do you like about working and teaching at Spalding?

I love the intimacy that Spalding has to offer. When I reflect on my own college experiences, there were not opportunities where I felt comfortable speaking with my professors or really interacting with classmates beyond my study partners. The larger environment did not foster a sense of connectedness, but I love that with Spalding, there are more opportunities to truly make an impact in more intimate ways.

What is your academic specialty, areas of expertise or research? 

My academic specialty/area of expertise is with Maternal and Newborn Care. I have been a Labor and Delivery RN for the past 6.5 years and currently teach the Maternity course in the School of Nursing. My passions and research align with Women’s Health with an emphasis on perinatal care.

Why is nursing a good option for students to consider for their major? 

The Nursing Program is a great option for students to consider because the program strives to set the foundation for exactly what the nursing profession entails. Nursing is genuinely a service of care and compassion and from the professors, to the small cohorts of students and curriculum base, the foundation is set to foster the next generation of knowledgeable and compassionate caregivers.

SPALDING SCHOOL OF NURSING

What is an example of a discussion topic, lecture, assignment, project, etc. in your class that you enjoy presenting or working with students on and that they have found engaging? 

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the students in the simulation lab, where high-fidelity mannequins simulate real patients. We have a mannequin named SimMom that is capable of demonstrating the labor process, birth of an infant and complications that women can experience during labor. Being able to stage scenarios and assist students as they critically think through care they should provide is what it’s all about. Helping them make those connections between what they see, what it means and how they should intervene is what will project them in the long run.

What is an interesting thing you have in your office? 

With being fairly new and having limited time on campus this year, I am still trying to get my office space established. However, I was sure to hang some inspirational pictures and make sure that I have Ivy present. Along with being significant to my sorority, Ivy just serves as a reminder of perseverance and fidelity to why I am teaching. I am committed to make an impact in the world around me and one way that I am choosing to do that is by being committed to my students and their journeys.

Spalding’s mission is to meet the needs of the times, to emphasize service and to promote peace and justice. What is an example of how your teaching style, your research, your class or your curriculum is supporting the mission of Spalding?

My teaching style supports Spalding’s missions by truly meeting students where they are. Of course there is curriculum that I want them to understand while they are with me, but ultimately, I want them to understand that they have someone who’s truly in their corner and rooting for their success, both inside and outside of the classroom. I hope that my service to them reflects the type of service they will exude to others, especially as they develop into future nurses.

FACULTY FOCUS FRIDAY ARCHIVE | Read all our professor Q&As

With tape to mark their desks and plenty of space between them, masked-up students returned to face-to-face classes at Spalding University on Monday and Tuesday for the first time since March.

Students said it was great to see their friends’ faces again – even if it was only the top half of those faces – and resume the in-person courses that they’d missed.

“I love being in in-person classes,” sophomore nursing student Samantha Roberson said. “I hope it continues, and I think it will continue if people keep wearing their masks like they should be and have been.”

When Roberson and fellow nursing students Erica McMann and Claire Houck arrived at their anatomy and physiology lecture class at the Egan Leadership Center’s Troutman Lectorium on Monday, at least every other chair was removed from the rows of long tables, with tape marking the spaces where they could sit.

“It was a little bit weird to get used to it at first,” Houck said, “but we’re supposed to be in class, not gathered and talking anyway, so it was nice.”

Fully in-person classes make up about 20 percent of the course sections at Spalding this session. The University is providing both in-person options and an array of fully or partially remote classes. The result is to accommodate students who want or need a traditional on-campus learning experience – especially in lab and hands-on courses – while keeping the overall density of people on campus low during the pandemic. Spalding has also expanded and enhanced its remote learning programs and technology in recent months and years.

The three nursing students said some of their classmates joined the class home, watching on an web stream that is available for every in-person course at Spalding this session.

“I thought that was cool,” Houck said.

HEALTHY TOGETHER AT SPALDING

Houck, McCann and Roberson said the lab portion of their anatomy and physiology course has been divided into two groups. Half of the students meet in person one day,  while the other half meets online. The next day, the groups swap.

Houck, McMann and Roberson all also live in the Spalding Suites. They said they preferred the expanded move-in period from last weekend. Returning students moved into the Suites by appointment over two days instead of one day in years past.

MOVE-IN 2020 | Residential students bring ‘renewed energy’ to campus

They said they had not encountered anyone on campus who was not wearing a mask or keeping a safe six-foot distance from other people.

“If everyone continues to do what they need to do to keep themselves and their community safe and healthy, we’ll all be just fine,” Houck said.

Another group of nursing students – those in Spalding’s accelerated BSN (second degree) program – had their first-ever day of on-campus classes on Monday at the Republic Bank Academic Center.

“I do feel safe, and I love the fact that Spalding (has) the flexibility but also the standards that they are enforcing like this is a real thing,” student Melissa Davis said. “‘Everybody follow the precautions. Everybody does their own part.’ And then I also feel like I won’t be penalized if I get sick.”

“It’s chilled out having your own table in a big space. Anxiety is definitely down.”

All the students interviewed on Monday said they had completed the #CampusClear health assessment before arriving on campus. That, along with wearing masks and staying socially distant and agreeing to the Spalding Promise pledge, is a key tenet of Spalding’s Return to Campus plan.

The app “is really easy to navigate,” second-degree BSN student Brittanie Glasser said.

Second-degree BSN student Craig Blasi, who previously attended a large public university, said he is already enjoying the small class sizes at Spalding.

“It’s a good family atmosphere,” he said. “I just met all my classmates today, and we’re all really close already. (At the larger university), it wasn’t bad; it was just big. I didn’t feel as included as I do here.”

Spalding University School of Nursing Associate Professor Dr. Erica Lemberger was recently selected to two prominent leadership roles – one to serve on the Kentucky Board of Nursing and the other as a member of the next cohort of the prestigious Leadership Louisville program.

Lemberger,  who teaches in Spalding’s online RN-to-BSN program,  was appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear to a four-year term on the 16-member Kentucky Board of Nursing, which is responsible for the development and enforcement of state laws governing the safe practice of nursing, nursing education and credentialing.

RELATED | Faculty Focus Friday Q&A with Dr. Lemberger
RELATED | Lemberger named a Louisville Business First Health Care Hero

Lemberger said she was honored to receive the governor’s appointment.

“I am deeply committed to ensuring all Kentuckians receive the safest, highest-quality healthcare,” she said. “I look around the room at KBN and see a wealth of experience; Kentucky is in good hands. I am filling the seat of a former Kentucky Nurses Association president and look forward to bringing my 20-plus years of experience to the table.”

Lemberger is a nurse practitioner with an array of nursing experience that includes cancer nursing, lung transplant nursing, medical-surgical nursing, emergency room care and Hospice care. The many settings in which she has practiced span from public health in homeless shelters to private health in affluent communities. A 2018 Louisville Business First Health Care Hero for excellence in patient experience, Lemberger has worked in military health, school health for pregnant and parenting teens, and nursing care for adults and children who survived physical and sexual abuse.

She has also taught in private and public universities. Since coming to Spalding in 2017, she has taken large groups of School of Nursing students to Frankfort each year to meet lawmakers as part of Kentucky Nurses Legislative Action Day.

“I am thrilled to bring what I’ve learned during my career to the Kentucky Board of Nursing,” Lemberger said, “and I also look forward to bringing my real-world experience at KBN to my RN-to-BSN classrooms at Spalding.”

Lemberger said working with Spalding’s School of Nursing faculty has been valuable in her career. She said. Dr. Patty Spurr, Director of Spalding’s RN-to-BSN program, a former Chair of the School of Nursing and a former KBN board member, has been a mentor.

“Our RN-to-BSN students have the unique benefit of learning from esteemed nurses who have firsthand experiences in leadership, governance and education,” Lemberger said.

LEARN MORE | View all programs offer by Spalding’s historic School of Nursing
RN-TO-BSN | Overview of Spalding’s convenient online program
FACULTY | Bios of all Spalding nursing professors 

This past week, it was also announced that Lemberger is among 54 outstanding Louisville professionals from a range of career fields chosen for the 2021 class of Leadership Louisville, which is now in its 42nd year as a preeminent community leadership program in the city.

“I look forward to learning more about the assets and needs of our community, building strong relationships with a network of professionals, and adding some tools to my toolbox as a leader,” Lemberger said of the 10-month program. “I’m proud to represent Spalding University and hope to bring what I learn back to the classroom. We need strong, compassionate and well-informed leaders in healthcare. I am grateful to be offered the opportunity to dive deeper into leadership and to learn more about our community.”

In our woundedness, we can become a source of life for others, (Nouwen, 1972 i)

We are wounded healers:  we enter into the lives of our patients often, alone with them, as they die from the coronavirus;

We are wounded healers: we accompany our colleagues in their care of the dying as well as their own deaths;

We are wounded healers: we bear the stigma of immeasurable pain of human suffering and dying as we stand before our patients, their families and our colleagues, filled with compassion, weeping, but with hands empty;

We are wounded healers: we experience a deep sense of abandonment, loneliness and failure because we are unable to rescue our patients and our colleagues from a disease not of their own making;

We are wounded healers: we find ourselves morally wounded because we are unable to stop the terrible decisions that must be made for patient care in the midst of this terrible disease;

We are wounded healers: each day we say good bye to our patients and colleagues, terrified to return home to our families knowing that we may carry illness and death to them –  fearful about returning to our centers of care – guilt of abandoning the sick when caring moments are desperately needed;

We are wounded healers with hope. We are calling for urgent help to be relieved of these terrible burdens so that our ineradicable covenant to care for the sick and one another with compassion, the very soul of our call to be healers, will be re-affirmed and reclaim human dignity and bring peace, healing, and hope to one another and to our world, especially the abandoned, unloved and the unwanted in our midst.

  • In the midst of these convulsive experiences and in solidarity with one another and our colleagues, we call on schools of the health professions, organizations, associations and Church groups to collaborate to:
  • Form listening sessions in order to share the wounds, the pain, multiples losses and anger we are experiencing and to reaffirm and implement the power of the trilogy of health care (human dignity, freedom and flourishing) among individuals and communities;
  • Provide comprehensive professional resources (psychological, emotional, physical, pastoral, ethical, social work) for our colleagues to help them journey through their experiences of grieving, anxiety, depression, those who have lost hope and self-confidence, death and reclaim confidence as instruments of healing and hope;
  • Implement strategies that will reach out especially to those have become isolated, withdrawn, feel abandoned, and have little reason to hope;
  • Establish local and regional interdisciplinary networks that provide long-term counseling, other services, and resources as we reclaim human dignity, freedom and promote human flourishing among all persons;
  • Collaborate with local and regional health care systems, our colleagues in the health professions, and civic leaders to construct a long term plan for continuing care and rehabilitation;

As wounded healers with hope, we bring to our world an elaborate and exhaustive array of experiences, competencies, and a legion of unparalleled experiences and expertise in education, administration, research across all domains of service to humanity. The profound virtuous act of the nurse as healer, the act that unites each of us as Fellows is embedded in the “promise of nursing,” the proclamation we all voiced when we dared to enter the world of nursing. This promise says:

Regardless of who you are, your gender, race, ethnicity, or religious persuasion, regardless of your illness or your life experiences; I am promising you my commitment that I will care with you; I will try to heal your pain, to ameliorate your suffering, to help you accept the limitations posed by the ravages of your illness.  I promise that I will accept your invitation to be with you when you are afraid, alone or dying; and to never abandon you along this journey. 

As wounded healers with hope, the largest segment of our nation’s health care workforce, amid the threats of the coronavirus, we must never allow our promise be compromised.  This is our vowed commitment to one another, to our colleagues, to the sick entrusted to our care, and to our nation and beyond.  Let us reclaim the power of the promise of nursing; let us help one another to be healed of this terrible threat to human dignity, freedom and human flourishing. In this journey together we will be freed to bring the promise of nursing to each other and to every person entrusted to our care.

Finally, we ask our Creator to protect us in our journey of healing and hope:

To bring strength, confidence and an enduring hope to each of us and to our colleagues;

  • To take time to care for ourselves and to listen to the voices in our own hearts;
  • To endow us with courage to remain faithful to the promise of nursing;
  • To care for our patients, their families, and our colleagues with compassion;
  • To bring healing to the sick, peace and comfort to the dying and their families;
  • To bring wisdom, compassion and confidence to our leaders;
  • To grant eternal rest to the dead; and
  • To comfort the mourners. Amen.

As ambassadors of hope, how successful we are in bringing healing to each of us as wounded healers, will determine how successful we are in living the promise of nursing in bringing healing and hope to all persons entrusted to our care, and to a suffering nation.

– (Nouwen, H.J.M. (1972).  The Wounded Healer.  New York: Image Books, Doubleday.)
– Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash

Faculty Focus Friday is a Q&A series that highlights individual faculty members in various academic programs around Spalding University. Today’s featured faculty member is Dr. Erica Lemberger, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing. Dr. Lemberger, who joined the nursing faculty in 2017, teaches in Spalding’s RN-to-BSN program and has also taught undergraduate population health courses. This past week, she took a large group of School of Nursing students to the the state Capitol in Frankfort to meet with legislators as part of Kentucky Nurses Legislative Action Day. Lemberger, a family nurse practitioner, was named a 2018 Louisville Business First Health Care Hero for excellence in patient experience during a career in which she’s worked with child abuse victims, cancer patients, homeless populations and pregnant teens. 

What do you like about working and teaching at Spalding?

Spalding’s mission statement says, “We are a diverse community of learners dedicated to meeting the needs of the times in the tradition of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.” The Sisters are prayerful women who in the 1800s went out into our community to provide care for individuals who were struck by cholera. I love that here at Spalding, we have the foundation of these courageous and caring women who see beyond themselves to do great things for our community. I also really appreciate that we are a diverse community of learners. It means that each student brings their own unique story to the classroom, which enriches the learning experience.

What is your academic specialty or areas of expertise or research? 

I’m celebrating my 21st year in nursing. I graduated with my BSN in 1998, with my MSN/FNP in 2001 and my DNP in 2014. I’m board-certified as a family nurse practitioner, an advanced forensic nurse, a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) of adults, adolescents and children, and as a faith community nurse. I’ve worked in a variety of areas, including in-patient oncology, domestic violence and homeless shelters, hospice, retail health, public high schools for pregnant and parenting teens, and the military.

LEARN MORE | Spalding’s online RN-to-BSN program
SCHOOL OF NURSING | Check out all the programs offered at Spalding
NURSING FACULTY | Read bios of all Spalding professors

LEADERSHIP | Educator, scholar Bro. Ignatius Perkins returns as nursing chair

Why is nursing a good option for students to consider as their major?

Nursing offers the opportunity to blend a love of science with care for individuals and communities. Our students also learn about leadership, research, health equity and how to make this world a better place for all.  At Spalding, we really get to know our students, and it feels like a family. I often tell people that there are so many opportunities in nursing from the bedside to the community to health care management and everything in between. You will always have a job, many opportunities for career growth, and the blessing of helping to make a difference in people’s lives.

What is an interesting thing that you keep in your office? 

I have a calligraphy print of the Serenity prayer. It says “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” My grandmother helped to raise me, and this frame hung in her dining room growing up. She was an incredible person, and she really inspired me to do good in the world.


What is the most rewarding part of your job? 

It’s really wonderful when our students have “aha” moments. There are times when students are able to connect the dots, relate what they are learning to their own personal experiences, and it’s as if light bulbs illuminate and things begin to click. We often have former students return to visit after graduation – and online students who send emails. It brings me great joy to hear that what former students learned in class is actually seen in practice. It’s very rewarding to know that we are helping to plant the seeds for nurses to do good in this world.

At Spalding, we like to say, “Today is a great day to change the world.” How do you think your role at Spalding is helping you change the world or the world of your students? 

Nurses can most definitely change the world.  Nursing is our nation’s largest healthcare profession, with more than 3.8 million registered nurses nationwide. We are the largest component of the healthcare workforce and are the main providers of care at the bedside. For the past 18 years, Americans have rated nurses as the No. 1 most ethical and honest profession. Nursing is both a profession (it’s something you are) and an occupation (it’s something you do). As faculty, it’s an honor to provide Spalding students with information, resources and opportunities to change the world for the better.

Spalding University is pleased to announce the return of Brother Ignatius Perkins, OP, PhD, RN, an experienced nursing and health care leader and a scholar on bioethics, as the Chair of Spalding’s School of Nursing – a position he also held from 2003-05.

Bro. Perkins, who currently serves as Director of Provincial Administration for the Dominican Friars-Province of St. Joseph in New York, is a Spalding alumnus and former faculty member. During Perkins’ previous stint as Spalding’s School of Nursing Chair, he dually served as Dean of the university’s College of Health and Natural Sciences.

From 2010-15, he was the Dean of the School of Nursing at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tennessee, and his career of more than four decades includes numerous other administrative, teaching and research positions in health care and nonprofit settings. He has presented and been published dozens of times, often on issues related to bioethics and medical ethics, and he has served on countless boards and committees.

Perkins holds two degrees from Spalding – a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (1972) and a Master of Arts in Education (1981) – and is a past recipient of the university’s Caritas Medal, the highest award that a Spalding graduate can receive. He also earned a master’s degree in nursing and a doctorate from the Catholic University of America in Washington. Perkins also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in primary care and clinical bioethics at Georgetown University in Washington, and he earned the National Catholic Certification in Health Care Ethics from the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.

“Brother Perkins is truly a rare find—he blends both an impressive background as a nursing leader, educator and bioethics scholar with a deep and intrinsic understanding of Spalding’s unique identity as a place where students come to learn to make a difference in their world,” Spalding President Tori Murden McClure said. “We are incredibly fortunate to have him and are thrilled to welcome him back to our campus.”


Learn more | Spalding’s School of Nursing programs


Throughout a venerable career, Perkins has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Pillar Award at the Religious Brothers Conference in 2019, Faculty of the Year Award at Aquinas College in Nashville in 2015, and Lifetime Achievement in Nursing Leadership Award from College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati. He is a Fellow with the NLN Academy of Nursing Education, the American Academy of Nursing, the New York Academy of Medicine, the Royal Society of Medicine and the National Catholic Bioethics Center, and he is an active member of multiple professional organizations, including the National Association of Catholic Nurses, the International Association of Catholic Bioethicists and the Catholic Medical Association. Perkins was also recently appointed as an Affiliated Scholar in the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University in Washington.

As Chair of the School of Nursing, Perkins will oversee all of Spalding’s undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. He will begin work this month.

“It is a genuine privilege for me to once again to serve the faculty, staff, students and alumni of the School of Nursing at Spalding University,” Perkins said. “The School of Nursing has an enduring history; its prophetic role in reshaping our world by promoting human dignity, freedom and human flourishing though caring and compassion is the seminal gift the graduates of the School bring to a world in need of healing and hope.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Nancy Kern, a longtime Spalding faculty member who currently serves as the Interim Chair of the School of Nursing, has been named Spalding’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program Director.

Kern, who holds master’s and doctoral degrees from Spalding, has been a member of the university’s faculty for nearly 11 years. In recent years, during the state’s hepatitis A outbreak, Kern was a leader in volunteer efforts to provide vaccines to homeless citizens of Louisville. She has been an American Red Cross volunteer for nearly five decades.

“We are excited that Nancy Kern will become the director of our BSN program,” McClure said. “During her time at Spalding, Dr. Kern has helped train countless students to become compassionate nursing professionals.  We thank her for the months she served as Interim Chair and look forward to the great work she’ll do in the future at Spalding.”

Spalding University held its annual Commencement ceremony on Saturday at Canaan Christian Church, conferring bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees to 614 students. Spalding also extended its tradition of conferring honorary degrees to members of the public who have made contributions to the greater good as well as awards to outstanding alumni, faculty and undergraduate students.

This year, the Spalding Board of Trustees presented three honorary doctorates – to business and community leader Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman (Honorary Doctor of Laws), to Humana co-founder David Jones Sr. (Honorary Doctor of Public Service) and to Sister of Charity Federation NGO representative to the United Nations Sister Teresa Kotturan, SCN (Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters).

Spalding presented the Caritas Medal – its highest honor for alumna of the year – to nursing leader Shirley Powers, who earned her bachelor of science in nursing from Spalding in 1972.

Dr. Pattie Dillon, Associate Professor of history and the Chair of the School of Liberal Studies, was named the Outstanding Faculty Award winner for 2019.

Spalding bestowed the honor of Faculty Emeritus/Emerita on three long-serving faculty members who are retiring with at least 25 years of service each at the university – School of Business Assistant Professor of Management David Hudson, School of Nursing Professor and Graduate Program Director Dr. Pamela King and School of Natural Science Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Marlene Will.

The two undergraduate student award winners were Teresa San Ngyuen, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, who received the Mother Catherine Spalding Service Learning Award; and Kelsey Hamilton, Bachelor of Science in Education (Secondary and Middle Grades), who received the Meagher Senior Award.

Here’s a closer look at the honorary degree recipients and award winners from 2019, and congratulations to them all:

Honorary Doctor of Laws – Junior Bridgeman
He’s the owner and chief executive officer of Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Co., LLC, which owns and operates a Coca-Cola production and manufacturing facility in Lenexa, Kansas, and 17 Coca-Cola distribution facilities sprinkled across the American heartland.

Prior to the 2017 acquisition of the Heartland bottling operations, Bridgeman was the owner and chief executive officer of various companies operating over 450 restaurants in 20 states, including 263 Wendy’s restaurants and 123 Chili’s restaurants, and his companies received several prestigious awards within the industry.

Bridgeman attended the University of Louisville, where he graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology. He was a three-year letter-winner and starter on the U of L basketball team, receiving All-American honors as a senior. He played professionally from 1975 to ’86 as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers.

Bridgeman serves or has served on multiple governing boards, including for Meijer Inc., Churchill Downs, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the James Graham Brown Foundation, Simmons College, the West End School and U of L, where he was board chair.

Bridgeman’s personal honors include membership in the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and being named a recipient of the Volunteers of America Tribute Award for Outstanding Service to the Commonwealth of Kentucky; the John Thompson Foundation Outstanding Achievement Award; and the Coach John Wooden Key to Life Award.

Honorary Doctorate of Public Service – David A. Jones Sr.
He co-founded Humana Inc. in 1961 and served as chief executive officer for 37 years and board chair for 44 years prior to retiring in 2005. He served as founding board chairman of Hospira until his retirement in 2007. He is a retired director of Abbott Laboratories and several other companies.

Jones was a member of The Business Roundtable and co-founder and past chair of the Healthcare Leadership Council, a group of about 50 CEOs of the nation’s largest health care organizations.

Jones, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and his wife, Betty, have five children and 11 grandchildren.  He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville in 1954, where he won the outstanding senior award.  He also became a Certified Public Accountant that year. After three years of Navy service he entered Yale University, earning a law degree in 1960, while also serving on the economics faculty from 1958 to 1960. He received the Yale Law School Medal in 1990 and the Yale Medal in 1992.

In 2003, he received Romania’s highest civilian award, the Order of Merit, for his role from 1990-2006 in rebuilding that nation’s devastated health care system.

He also holds honorary doctorates from the Chicago Medical School, the Claremont Graduate School, the University of Louisville, Middlebury College, Transylvania University and Ovidius University, Constanta, Romania.

Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters – Teresa Kotturan, SCN
In her role as the NGO representative at the UN for the Sisters of Charity Federation, Kotturan’s primary objective is to bring the concerns of the 2,700 members of the federation and all those with whom and to whom they minister in 26 countries to the global stage of the UN. She is committed to raising awareness through the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people live in peace and prosperity.

Kotturan has been a Sister of Charity of Nazareth for 49 years and previously served as Vice President of the SCN. She has also served as the Provincial Superior of the India Province for eight years.

Kotturan works to ensure that the voices of women religious and those they serve are heard. She strives to raise awareness for pressing global concerns such as poverty eradication, lack of access to education, human trafficking, human rights, global citizenship, migration and inter-religious dialogue, social development, financing for development, climate change and environmental sustainability.

Caritas Medalist (Alumna of the Year) – Shirley Burns Powers
The 1972 graduate of Spalding with a bachelor of science degree in nursing contributed to the advancement of health care and the profession of nursing in Louisville. She served  as the Chief Information Officer for Norton Hospital and implemented the first clinical information system in the state. She advanced to become Administrator for Norton Hospital and Senior Executive Officer for Norton Healthcare.

Upon retirement, Shirley started Powers Consulting Inc. and worked as Coordinator of the Greater Louisville Workforce Consortium for the Kentucky Hospital Association and Jefferson County Public Schools to implement the health care magnets in three high schools. She has served as a consultant to the Humana Foundation on a tour to Romania to assist in the writing of a health care plan for that country and to Spalding University on matters of nursing and finance. Burns has served on the boards of many organizations, including ones focused on health care, nursing and helping children. Among the myriad awards and honors she’s received, Burns was a recipient in 1996 of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Spalding for Leadership in Nursing. Now she is receiving the university’s highest honor for any alum.

Outstanding Faculty Award – Pattie Dillon
With courses on the Civil War and Reconstruction, Jim Crow, gender history, and U.S. history since 1945, she has been praised for creating curriculum that is both rigorous and relevant to current events, and she is well-known around campus as being a very engaging teacher.

Dillon has undertaken scholarship work with the National Council for History Education, the Lilly Conference on College Teaching, and the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.

Dillon serves as Faculty Senate President and the Board of Trustees’ Faculty Representative. She is also the faculty mentor for the mission societies and has served on several search committees. Off campus, she serves as President of the Kentucky Association of Teachers of History; as school board member for St. James Catholic School; as a member of the Dialogue on Diversity Conference Committee; and as Lead History Scholar for the Rivers Institute at Hanover College and the NEH Picturing America Grant’s Picturing America’s Changing Landscapes Workshop.

Designation as Professor Emeritus – David Hudson
He has taught of range of management courses in the School of Business while also possessing knowledge and experience in human resources, sales, marketing and public relations. He has been a faculty athletic representative for the Golden Eagles’ athletic program, and he is a 20-year U.S. Army veteran

Designation as Professor Emerita – Pam King
She has trained scores of nurses, nurse practitioners and other health care leaders as the director of the graduate nursing program. Outside of Spading, she has volunteered at the Family Community Clinic, which provides medical care to individuals and families who lack health insurance, and she’s used her position there as a platform to provide service learning opportunities for Spalding students.

Designation as Professor Emerita – Marlene Will
Dr. Will has spent most of her adult life associated with Spalding. She earned a bachelor’s degree in math and a master of arts in teaching at Spalding, then spent more than four decades as a professor at the university, where she also earned her doctorate in education. In teaching a variety of math courses – from college alegbra to statistics, as well as mathematics for teachers – Dr. Will played a part in the college journey of countless students from all manner of majors and degree programs.

Mother Catherine Spalding Service Learning Award – Teresa San Nguyen
Annually, this award recipient embodies the spiritual values of faith, hope and charity, which emulate Spalding’s founder, Mother Catherine Spalding. On campus, Nguyen has been a work-study in the library and a psychology tutor. Off campus, she has been heavily involved with the Vietnamese Eucharist Movement, leading youth groups there, and she volunteers at Centerstone in the crisis management center.

Mother Rose Meagher Senior Award – Kelsey Hamilton
This award goes annually to a person who has performed well academically and has a proven record as a mature leader and member of the campus community. Hamilton has been praised by faculty for her academic excellence, work ethic, maturity, judgment, helpfulness and creativity. As a work-study in the College of Education and as a student teacher at the Brown School, she has been praised for her initiative to complete tasks, her professionalism and her knowledge of mathematics content. She has also been a successful member of the Spalding track and field team and active member of the Kentucky Education Association Student Program. Hamilton collected more than 500 children’s books for the Rutherford Elementary Reads program.

It’s Commencement weekend at Spalding University! Festivities kicked off Friday with the Baccalaureate service and individual college, school and program award ceremonies. There are tons of pictures from the day on Spalding’s Facebook page within the “Commencement Activities 2019” album. Please like, share and tag yourself or others in the pictures, and do the same after the university Commencement service (10 a.m. Saturday at Canaan Christian Church). Here’s a look at some of Spalding’s new grads who participated in Friday’s events.

Haitian earthquake victim now a Spalding nursing grad
Nine years ago, Witchina Liberal’s home in Haiti was destroyed by the earthquake that devastated that country.

This weekend, she is graduating with the degree of bachelor of science in nursing from Spalding and set to add a member to her young family.

Liberal attended Friday’s Baccalaureate service on Friday nearly nine months pregnant with her son, who is due on June 23 and will be named Jeremiah. She said she expects to look back on pictures from this weekend years from now with him.

“I can say I have a career now, and I will be able to provide for him, give him everything I didn’t have growing up. I’m happy,” said Liberal, who was accompanied Friday by her husband and friends from their church.

She added with a laugh: “He’s been a good boy. I didn’t have too much trouble with him while I did the nursing program.”

At the time of the earthquake, 15-year-old Liberal was at home, but she was cooking in a kitchen that was in a different part of the building.

“Fortunately, none of my family members died, but we lost everything,” she said. “None of us were in the house at the time. But it was horrifying. A lot of people died.”

Liberal moved from Haiti to Florida in 2010 to finish high school. She also attended a community college in that state before moving in 2016 to Louisville, where she had family. She picked Spalding to finish out her BSN the next year because she “liked how they were so welcoming,” Liberal said.

“It’s hard, but it’s doable,” she said of the nursing degree. “It can be done, but it’s challenging. I enjoyed it. The professors were really helpful, really helpful.”

Commencement weekend felt bittersweet for Liberal. In November, a few weeks after she learned she was pregnant, Liberal lost her mother, who was still living in Haiti. She has had her mom on her mind as she approaches graduation. Liberal said she barely slept Thursday night as she stayed up thinking about her.

“I’m proud of what I have done, but it has been rough,” she said.

Liberal plans to be a neonatal intensive care unit nurse. At some point, she’d like to provide nursing and medical care in her home country, which she has visited every year since moving to the United States.

“That’s part of my plan,” she said. “I’d like to go back and help.”

Former Spalding golfer now a mom and grad
Bachelor of science in natural science graduate and former Spalding golfer Megan Shirley Faust had a special young guest at Friday’s Baccalaureate Service – her 2-month-old daughter, Madalyn.

Spalding student Megan Faust, in blue cap and gown, holding baby, Madalyn, in a car seat
Spalding student Megan Faust and 2-month-old daughter Madalyn after Baccalaureate service on May 31, 2019.

“It’s pretty awesome being able to experience it with her and her be in the moment with me,” Megan Faust said. Years from now, “I can show her what I did, and she’ll want to do the same.”

She said attending Spalding has been “a really great experience,” citing the experience of being an athlete and a student, as well as the bond she had with the golf team.

Faust was a senior on the 2017-18 Spalding team that won the first-ever St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship for women’s golf.

“That history is pretty awesome, being one of the first people to set those standards,” Faust said.

During her final academic year, Faust has had a new experience.

“Instead of going to practices and workouts and tournaments, I’m a mom and a student,” she said.

Faust currently works as a Certified Nursing Assistant in a nursing home. She said she may at some point pursue a job in human resources.

College of Ed master’s grad: ‘I feel like I’ve gained a family here’
Destiny Nichole Livers, a teacher a Foster Elementary School who is earning the degree of master of education in teacher leadership, said she would recommend Spalding to other aspiring or current teachers.

“I loved Spalding. The staff is very supportive,” she said.

Livers, who taught fifth grade the last three years and who will move to third grade as a team leader next year, said she’s learned about methods and best practices at Spalding that she is eager to take back to her school and share with her colleagues.

“If someone is looking for a supportive family, not just professors – I feel like I’ve gained a family here at Spalding – then you would like Spalding,” Livers said. “If you want the college where you really don’t know your professors, then go somewhere else. But here, like I told Dr. (Kristen) Harris, (the Spalding program director), ‘You’re stuck with me for life.'”

Livers was the winner of the Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award for her program.

 

With Commencement approaching on June 1, Spalding is publishing a series of stories and Q&A’s that highlight students from a range of degree programs who are set to graduate. Next up is Amanda Jewell, who is earning the degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She also holds offices in the Student Government Association and the Kentucky Association of Nursing Students.

What is your favorite Spalding memory?
My favorite Spalding memory was when the School of Nursing won the 2019 Rat Race. I had never heard of this tradition prior to transferring to Spalding University, but it was definitely a fun and interesting experience being a “rat trainer.” We almost won the year before, so I was determined to pull through for first place this year!

Which accomplishments are you most proud of during your time at Spalding?
Over the past two years at Spalding, I have served on the Student Government Association Senate for the School of Nursing and Executive Board as the Vice President of Non-traditional Students, the Second Vice President of the School of Nursing, and the Kentucky Association of Nursing Students’ Executive Board as Secretary. Prior to attending Spalding, I hadn’t really been involved throughout my collegiate career, so it was a great experience!

What’s your favorite spot on campus?
My favorite spots on campus are the School of Nursing Laboratories. We have simulation mannequins to practice procedures on, so it has helped me improve my nursing skills.

At Spalding, we like to say that, “Today is a great day to change the world.” For many of our students, Commencement is a world changing experience. After graduation, how do you plan to change the world, big or small, and who inspires you to be a #spaldingworldchanger?
My close friends and family have inspired me to be a #spaldingworldchanger! I decided to follow in my mother’s footsteps and become a pediatric nurse. Upon graduation, I am relocating to Cincinnati to work in the Pediatric Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit as a Registered Nurse. I could not be more excited for my next adventure to begin!