This week, the College of Nursing celebrated outstanding faculty recognized by students for their compassion, innovation, and impactful teaching. PhD students were honored for leadership in health policy, while faculty presented nationally on topics ranging from AI in nursing to integrative menopause care. We shared new scholarship on telehealth, perinatal depression, and palliative care for diverse communities. Our community continues to advance research, education, and advocacy on a national scale.
Students’ Commendation of Faculty
At the end of each semester, students have the opportunity to provide feedback about each course they took, and the faculty who taught the course. The following unedited quotes are from students who took courses during Fall Semester 2024.
Dr. Anna Alder, Dr. Kelly Mansfield, and Dr. Amy Pasmann: NURS 4605 Applications of Evidence in Nursing Practice. "These instructors are so amazing for constantly looking for feedback and actually taking it into account. I always felt safe to speak my mind which hasn't been typical for me in other classes." "The class had several open discussion moments and we established in the beginning of the semester rules to facilitate a healthy and safe environment."
Dr. Nancy Allen: NURS 7702 DNP Scholarly Project II. “Professor Allen was fantastic in helping and supporting me on my DNP project and manuscript. Thank you for all of your time and assistance.”
Dr. Natasha Ansari: NURS 4510 Global Public Health. “Natasha was the MOST wonderful professor. I wish we had gotten to see her more, as she was very engaging and thus, I learned a lot. Moreover, she was very kind and helpful when I had questions.”
Dr. Diane Chapman: NURS 7053 Advanced Pathophysiology for DNP Students I. “Dr. Chapman is by far the best professor I have ever had in both my graduate and undergraduate education. She is kind and devoted to making each of us strong and knowledgeable DNP students. Before this course, I was told by a former student of Dr. Chapman that she is by far the best teacher and truly cares about the time and energy put into this coursework. Throughout my first semester, I recognized this and so much more from Dr. Chapman. I hope to one day be half as incredible as her in my profession and personal knowledge of the pathophysiology behind the disease processes I encounter in my patients.”
Dr. Mollie Cummins: NURS 7104 Applied Informatics for Health Sciences Research. "The depth and breadth of Dr. Cummins was astounding, technical, relevant, and current – so fun to get to learn from them! The prof was incredibly kind, available, and helpful to put the cherry on top!"
Dr. Jenneth Doria: NURS 4140 Leadership and Management for Professional Nurses. "Professor Doria is an absolutely wonderful instructor. She goes above and beyond for her students, I know that I can always reach out to her with my concerns. Her assignment feedback is constructive and inspires me to improve. I would recommend any class she teaches and I would happily be her student again. I cannot express enough how amazing and caring she is. Professor Doria has truly impacted my life and helped me become a better nurse."
Angie Fenton: NURS 5905 Clinical Physiology. “Thank you for teaching this course and structuring it like you have! It makes it easy to learn and everything is consistent with grading and expectations. You are a great educator and learning is made easy from you.”
Dr. Katarina Friberg-Felsted: GERON 5280 International Dimensions of Lifelong Learning. “Dr. Katarina Friberg Felsted creates a supportive and engaging learning environment by providing clear instructions, structured assignments, and meaningful feedback. She incorporates real–world examples, such as analyzing lifelong learning systems in different countries, which helps connect theoretical concepts to practical applications. Her emphasis on reflection and critical thinking encourages students to explore diverse perspectives and apply what they learn to real–life contexts. Additionally, her accessibility and encouragement foster a sense of collaboration and active participation in the course.”
Dr. Linda Hofmann: N7530 Advanced Management in Complex Healthcare Systems. “Linda has a strong executive leadership background and provides unique insight that is enlightening. I love Linda's teaching style. I appreciate that the course does not have much busywork. Linda has so much knowledge and expertise. She is passionate about helping students understand the role of a nurse executive.”
Dr. Amanda Keddington: NURS 4650 Capstone Clinical. "She was such an amazing instructor, was well prepared and put together, and was always willing to help out. She was flexible with all of her students, managing to make ends work just to make our lives a little easier, and for that I commend her and her excellence. She has shown to care about not only her students, but about their well–being and their success as well."
Dr. Brenda Luther: NURS 3107 Nursing and Health Promotion. “Great semester and great teacher – encouraged me to complete my goals and various aspects of personal health.”
Dr. Tom Rowley: NURS 7050 Advanced Pharmacology. “Tom is one of the best instructors I have ever had! He is very clear in his teaching, open to comments and questions, fun, humorous, and gave great learning opportunities! I loved all his examples from clinic experience. I also felt the class environment was friendly and kind and it felt like a family. He is the harshest grader out of them all, but he makes up for it by being such a great instructor. Any time there was an issue, he would take the time to speak to the student one on one and clear the air. I wish Tom could be compelled to teach a lot more classes in this program. My peers echoed this sentiment. Tom would definitely be on my dream team of instructors for additional courses at the CoN.”
Dr. Xiaoming Sheng: NURS 6701, Fundamentals of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. “This instructor effectively utilizes class assignments to enhance my learning experience and solidify my understanding of the course material.”
Alisha Wursten: NURS 3410 Acute Care Nursing Practicum. “Alisha kept me on my toes in post-clinical with insightful questions about my experiences and did a great job expanding upon them and turning them into teachable moments. Alisha did a great job at recognizing her students' hard work, and I really enjoyed being her student this semester.”
Student Recognition
PhD students Garrett Schwanke and Kari Weiss were selected through an essay application process to attend the annual American Association of Nurse Practitioners Health Policy Conference in Washington D.C. Students wrote personal and inspirational statements about their desire to pursue policy and leadership as new professionals. Dr. Amanda Al-Khudairi, Dr. Zoe Robbins, and Dr. Diane Chapman were joined by members of the Utah Nurse Practitioners Association delegation in recognizing and mentoring Garrett and Kari.
Presentations
Dr. Amanda Keddington delivered a presentation titled Beyond the Bedside: Rising to Your Why at the Utah Student Nurses Association conference at Brigham Young University.
Dr. Lynn Reinke hosted Dr. Hailey Bulls, a clinical psychologist from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Bulls presented Palliative Care Grant Rounds titled Opioids, Pain, and Cancer Care: Perspectives Along the Cancer Continuum, and met with PhD students and University of Utah and College of Nursing faculty.
Offered by the Center to Advance Palliative Care, Jeanna Ford, Sherika Newman, Stephanie Chow, and PhD student Sasha Perez will present a webinar titled Best Practices for Providing High-Quality Palliative Care for Diverse Communities on April 8. Click here to register.
The College of Nursing was well represented at the 2025 International Congress on Integrative Medicine & Health in Seattle.
- Dr. Lisa Taylor-Swanson, Micaela Besser, Tammy Dunklebarger,Wen Tu, Dr. Xiaoming Sheng, Dr. Bob Wong, Marge Dalseth, and Anna Camille Moreno delivered a podium presentation titled Feasibility and Acceptability of MENOGAP: Conventional and Integrative Menopause Care with Group Acupuncture.
- Lisa Conboy, Irina Conboy, Michael Conboy and Dr. Lisa Taylor-Swanson presented a poster titled Designing a Decentralized Randomized Controlled Trial of Acupuncture to Capture Whole Person Health.
- Dr. Lisa Taylor-Swanson, Dr. Cheryl Armstrong, Jill Johnson, Claudia Citkovitz, Zena Kocher, Kayla Ayn Madsen, Emily Flynn, Ashlee Taft Nelson, Wen Tu, Caroline Sariah Howell, and Kimberly Garcia presented a poster titled Pretest-Posttest with Guatemalan Lay Midwives about Acupressure Use for Preeclampsia.
Dr. Mollie Cummins delivered the opening keynote presentation titled Nursing and AI: An Evolution at the 2025 Rita Kobb Nursing & Health Informatics Symposium at the University of Florida College of Nursing in Gainesville.
Christopher Stucky, Felichism Kabo, Dean Marla De Jong, Sherita House, and Josh Wymer presented a poster titled Surgical Team Structure: How Familiarity and Team Size Influence Communication Effectiveness in Military Surgical Teams at the AMSUS 2025 Annual Meeting in National Harbor, MD.
U Alumni sponsored Bringing the U to You: Portland – an event in which alumni could learn updates about the University, including its future and the collaborative efforts driving its success, and connect with each other. Moderated by Riley Smith, Associate Director, Alumni Chapters, panel members Deans Marla De Jong, Arnab Chakraborty, and Frankie Santos Laanan discussed topics such as University priorities, interprofessional collaboration, community engagement, academic excellence, and information about College-specific priorities, initiatives, and achievements.
In the Media
Pioneering the Future: Stories of Discovery and Innovation is a University of Utah Health exclusive series that tells stories of high-impact research that is advancing knowledge and improving the health and well-being of people in Utah and beyond. The Science of Healing edition features innovations in telehealth and perinatal depression, including a piece titled Easy-Access Care for Perinatal Depression that spotlights Dr. Gwen Latendresse’s work to develop and test a telehealth program designed to prevent and treat perinatal depression, and enable new mothers to conveniently access mental health support at home.
Publications
Dr. Mollie Cummins published three blogs via Telehealth.org.
- Mastering AI documentation in telehealth: 5 must-know tips for clinicians. March 4, 2025.
- The potential impacts of NIH funding cuts on telehealth research.February 28, 2025.
- How telemedicine reduces healthcare's carbon footprint: New research. February 20, 2025.