College of Nursing & Health Care Professions

Dr. Anthony “Tony” Paterniti of the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions is a longtime authority about Florence Nightingale and has given numerous presentations about the founder of modern nursing. His collection of Florence Nightingale items is so impressive, it’s on display in Texas. The focus of his teaching methods is simple: “I consider myself a partner with each student in the class,” he said.

GCU’s prelicensure nursing students turned in another strong performance on the NCLEX, the standardized national exam nurse-hopefuls must pass before they are allowed to begin working in the field. They finished 2019 with a 96.67% first-time pass rate, which bests 2018’s 91.5% first-time pass rate. “We never remain stagnant or complacent,” College of Nursing and Health Care Professions Dean Dr. Lisa Smith said of the college’s latest achievement. “We’re always looking to make improvements to further the success of program outcomes and to ensure our graduates are workforce ready.”

The February 2020 issue of GCU Magazine will be a keepsake for students, faculty, staff and alumni. The special dedication to GCU’s stunning transformation in the last 10 years includes stories, photos and videos covering every aspect of this remarkable story — academics, spiritual life, campus life, community outreach, athletics, online education and alumni — plus President Brian Mueller’s personal thoughts about what it has meant to him. Here’s the digital version.

Michael McKenney, Assistant Professor and Clinical Education Coordinator for the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, has traveled all over the world in his mission of helping athletes. But he’s also on a mission to help students have similar accomplishments and uses simple phrases to cement in their heads the principles they will need in the field.

Running is an outlet for doctoral learner Debra Bartkowski, but last year she stepped up to the next level — the 250-mile level. Surviving the “3 Days at the Fair” ultra-marathon has sparked her drive to complete her degree. “My takeaway from all this is that you can do anything that you set your mind to,” she said.

Teen archery phenomenon and GCU nursing and psychology student Alexis Ruiz has had a phenomenal rookie year on the international circuit. She was the only archer, male or female, to medal in all four stages of the Archery World Cup and now has been nominated for World Archery’s Athlete of the Year.

GCU News Bureau A special edition of the Journal of Instructional Research features several articles from Grand Canyon University faculty. JIR features theoretical and empirically-based research articles, critical reflection pieces, case studies and classroom innovations relevant to best practices in post-secondary instruction (including teaching, learning and assessment). The articles listed below are available here: “Defining Effective Online Pedagogy,” John Steele, Rick Holbeck, Jean Mendernach Ten Strategic Points: A Framework for Doctoral Dissertations Students to Conceptualize their Research Design in a Doctoral Residency Program,” Cynthia Bainbridge, Christie McClendon, June Maul “The Goldilocks Paradox: The Need for Instructor Presence but Not Too Much in an Online Discussion Forum,” Elizabeth Larson, Jacob Aroz, Eric Nordin “Virtual Professional Communities: Integrative Faculty Support to Foster Effective Teaching,” Katie Sprute, Crystal McCabe, Lynn Basko, Paul Danuser “Exploring Quiz-Style PowerPoint Games as an Innovative e-Learning and Teaching Pedagogy,” Nikki Squire “Reflective Practice through Mentorship: A Program Reflection,” Emily Pottinger, Rebekah Dyer and Jena Akard “Using OBS to Create Video Lectures for Online Counseling Students,” Daniel A. Kauffman “Active Classrooms: Great for Academic Performance, but can They Improve Student Health? A Critical Literature Review,” Mike Swoboda The Intersection of Theory and Practice in Teacher Preparation Courses,” Brandon Juarez “Alternative Mentoring for Psychology Students,” […]

Photos by Mathew McGraw and Elizabeth Tinajero GCU News Bureau The Friday evening ceremony of Winter Commencement at Grand Canyon University featured graduates of the Colangelo College of Business, College of Fine Arts and Production and College of Nursing and Health Care Professions.    

Pamela Hess, Lead Faculty for Health Informatics in the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, is excited about the rapid changes in health care thanks to informatics and information management. She appreciates having the opportunity to work the Christian worldview into the classroom and is working toward earning a doctorate from GCU.

“Glorious Frequencies: Music, Physics and Engineering” “Lazy or Lupus? Is My Tiredness Pathological?” and “The Robots are Coming!” were just some of the topics high school juniors and seniors, as well as community college students, explored at the annual Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology Day on Thursday. More than 1,100 high school and community college students RSVP’d to attend HSET Day, when students not only toured DNA, engineering, cadaver and nursing labs but sat in on talks by professionals in the field and visited with GCU STEM students. The event was presented by the Marketing Department’s ground event planning team.