Leadership & Professional Growth

My qualitative study on academic nurse leader (ANL) role development was published in Nursing Education Perspectives. I interviewed 18 nurse leaders across the country — program directors, chairpersons, assistant and associate deans, and deans — to understand how they actually developed in their roles. What I found was equal parts validating and sobering. Here are five strategies drawn directly from the findings of this study.

If you've been in a faculty role for more than five minutes, you've probably realized that the wheels of academic change move slowly. Very slowly. And yet, without a formal title, it might feel like you just don’t have the power or influence to help and make a difference. But here's the thing: you do.

If the word accreditation makes your shoulders creep toward your ears, you are not alone. For many NP faculty — especially those new to academia — accreditation can feel like an entirely separate world. One with its own language, its own rituals, and a seemingly endless appetite for documentation. This post breaks it down — plainly, practically, and without the committee-meeting energy.

When students struggle in clinical, it can feel personal. We worry about patient safety. We worry about fairness. We worry about whether we missed something earlier. And if we’re honest, we sometimes worry about how much time and emotional energy this is about to take. The instinct is often to either tighten control or pull back completely. More paperwork. More warnings. Or, on the other end, quiet hope that things will somehow improve on their own. Coaching lives in the m