IUPUC’s Division of Health Sciences Advisory Council hosted its annual meeting virtually via zoom on May 19, 2021. The annual event brings together community partners to acknowledge outstanding performance of IUPUC Nursing Student scholarship recipients as well as clinical site preceptor of the year recipients. Attendees include the IUPUC Division of Health Sciences faculty & staff, clinical partners, East Indiana AHEC, Indiana Center for Nursing (ICN), IUPUC Advisory Council members, Community members interested in the nursing/health sciences programs at IUPUC.

Preceptor of the Year Award

The Preceptor of the Year Award recognizes the integral part preceptors play in nursing education at IUPUC, and is given annually to volunteer instructors from each of the clinical partner hospitals who work with IUPUC students.  The 2020 Preceptor Award winners include:

• Melanie Gault, Johnson Memorial Health
• Matt Jackson, King’s Daughters’ Health
• Brittany Jones, Columbus Regional Health
• Lisa Nesbit, Decatur County Memorial Hospital
• Rachel Stangland, Schneck Medical Center
• Josiah Tweedy, Major Health Partners

In addition, IUPUC also awards the Sharer Preceptor Award to one of the Preceptor Award winners. This year’s Sharer Preceptor Award winner is Melanie Gault. 

ICN Scholarship Award

The mission of the Indiana Center for Nursing (ICN) is to unite statewide nursing education and practice leaders to affect change, through one voice, to ensure a highly qualified nursing workforce that meets the needs of Indiana’s healthcare consumers. Each year, ICN disburses scholarship money to its member schools who select their scholarship winners.

The 2019-2020 Indiana Center for Nursing Award Recipients at IUPUC include:

• Emerging Nurse Leader, Pre-licensure: Rachel Brougher
• Emerging Nurse Researcher, Pre-licensure: Jennifer Ratliff
• Emerging Nurse Leader, RN to BSN: Leslie Cuma-Fontaine
• Emerging Nurse Researcher, RN to BSN: Eric Brown
• Emerging Nurse Leader, Accelerated: Tucker Robinson
• Emerging Nurse Practitioner Leader, MSN: Joshua Gates
• Emerging Nurse Practitioner Researcher, MSN: Amy McDonald

As part of the Advisory Council Meeting, the Health Sciences directors provided updates for their areas including the MSN Advisory Update by Andrea Valentine, the Dashboard Overview by Lisa Homer, and the Regional Healthcare Professional Pipeline by Carrie Shaver. In addition, division head, Beth Sharer, provided updates on past recommendations, program accomplishments, faculty, staff, and student accomplishments, as well as soliciting feedback and recommendations from community members and clinical partners.

For more information about the Advisory Council and the 2021 annual meeting, contact Heather Trapp via email at htrapp@iu.edu.