ALICIA SHIELDS
College of Nursing and Health Care Professions
Title: Online instructor
Years at GCU: 1st year
Academic degrees: Master of Science in Nursing with an Emphasis in Leadership in Health Care Systems from GCU
Faculty scholarship (publications, scholarly presentations, fellowships, etc.):
- Shields, A. (2018), "Growing leaders," Arizona Nurse, 71(4), 15.
- Diaz, S., Karras, J., Shields, A., Weiss, A., & Hoppszallern, S. (2017), "Big data: Best practices in business intelligence," H&HN Executive Dialogue.
- Shields, A. (2019), "Growing leaders around you," poster session presented at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Shields, A., DeAndrea, S.. (2017). "The role of the c-suite in sepsis care improvement," AHA Leadership Summit, San Diego
- Shields, A. (October 2016), "The impact of the Beirut bombing," Beirut Memorial, Jacksonville, N.C.
- Shields, A. (2015), "When the population swells from 7,000 to 34,000 and its impact on local healthcare," Washington State University College of Nursing, Spokane, Wash.
- Shields, A. (2015), "Breastfeeding troubleshooting," Indian Health Midwinter Women's and Children's Health Conference, Telluride, Colo.
Notable employment in your field: Chief Nursing Officer for two different facilities
What are you most passionate about in your field?
I am passionate about developing and mentoring leaders. As John C. Maxwell says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” Leaders either bring people down or raise them up. Through living out my Christian values in leadership, I want everyone to see that raising people up is what I strive to do and what we should all strive to do. I also want to help create a positive, think-big environment. Great things can be accomplished when people feel free to dream, and failure is seen as a learning opportunity rather than a negative.
I am also passionate about fighting human trafficking. I am a Certified Anti-Human Trafficking Advocate and serve on the Mayor’s Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force. I started a nonprofit with the mission of serving the underserved and fighting human trafficking. This is something that even my kids are involved in. They have started making and selling bracelets, and they donate the money to anti human-trafficking efforts. I also educate anyone who will listen. This is something that is happening all around us, and it is important to be educated and know the red flags. I have been able to incorporate this education in the classroom as well. As a matter of fact in the last class I taught, there was a section in the textbook about human trafficking, so I was able to expand on that and share resources with the students about how they can make an impact on human trafficking. It is really important, especially for nurses, to know what the look for and what to do if human trafficking is suspected.
What aspect of your teaching style is the most distinctive and/or memorable?
I have been told by students that my commitment and dedication to them really shows, even in the online environment. I really do care about student success. I also care about how students will be representing the nursing profession once they leave school. It is my responsibility to prepare them to represent our profession in a manner consistent with the values taught at GCU and the ethical values of our profession.
What do you like to do for fun in your spare time?
My family and I are huge sports fans. We go to most of the Diamondbacks, Suns and Mercury games. We also love to travel and spend time exploring. You will definitely see us at the GCU games cheering on our team!
On a more professional note, I am active in nursing organizations around the state and nation and serve as the chair of the editorial board for Arizona Nurse. I also LOVE to learn, so I take advantage of every learning opportunity I can. I cannot tell you when I last read a fiction book, but I can tell you the last 10 leadership books that I read.
What is something interesting about you that most people don't know?
I get bored easily if I am not very busy, so I take on new challenges. A few years ago, I became a firefighter and hazardous materials technician. When I lived in Washington I volunteered for our local fire department. We only had to have hazmat awareness and operations, but I loved it so much that I became a technician!
