School of Nursing associate deans and professors Jennifer Graber and Jennifer Saylor have been accepted into the prestigious Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in Health Professions. Of 129 participants from five countries, only five are nurses, including Graber and Saylor.

The continuing professional development program, founded in 1994, serves as an international incubator for innovation in healthcare education. More than 3,500 alumni of the program from hundreds of institutions globally have gone on to create programs that inspire change and enhance patient care and health professional instruction.

Graber and Saylor were inspired to apply for the program by the dire need for more nurse educators. One piece of their work includes a faculty development program for all healthcare professionals that includes mentoring and aids clinicians in transferring their clinical skills and knowledge into academia.

“We need healthcare providers, including nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists, and healthcare professionals employed in the biopharmaceutical arena to enter academia and teach future clinicians—not just at UD, but globally,” Saylor said. “This faculty development program will foster increased diversity and will develop and hone skills as they transition from industry professionals to healthcare educators.”

The professional development piece also ties in to plans to create a nurse educators program, in the form of either a certificate or a master’s degree. The aim is to not only attract more nursing educators statewide to combat the ongoing shortage, but also to ensure that nurse educators are equipped with the best evidence-based strategies to enhance faculty development and educational pedagogy.  

“We know we need nurses in the field working in the hospitals and in the community, and there just are not enough nursing faculty to teach them. If we don’t have faculty, we’ll have a worsening nursing shortage,” said Graber, who serves as the associate dean of academic affairs and practice initiatives for the School of Nursing

“A lot of newer faculty members are coming in without teaching experience or training in pedagogy. We want to enhance the classroom experience by ensuring they’re equipped with the best teaching strategies and that they know how to utilize technology and other creative learning techniques. So, this program and our dream is to mentor and precept—not just with new faculty—but also seasoned faculty,” Graber said.

Nursing education is constantly changing, and Saylor said the program and curriculum they create will acknowledge that and be adaptable.

“Nurses enter a specific specialty, and that’s often all they know. We want to ensure working nurses become generalists in the classroom because that’s what we teach our students to be. We want to bring back the art and the science of nursing education,” said Saylor, who’s the associate dean of faculty and student affairs for SON.

Saylor envisions the nurse educators certificate program also serving as a model that could be expanded more broadly into other healthcare fields with the curriculum tailored to meet changing clinical demands.  

Senior Associate Dean for the School of Nursing Elizabeth Speakman is an alumna of the Harvard Macy Institute.   

“Attending the Harvard Macy Institute Leaders in Healthcare Program in 2006 was a pivotal moment in my academic career. The opportunity to engage in systems thinking with a cadre of interprofessional healthcare leaders helped me view issues and trends through a different lens,” Speakman said. “I am so pleased that Drs. Jennifer Saylor and Jennifer Graber were selected for this highly competitive and prestigious program, and I am confident that the University of Delaware will be well-represented.”

The program includes a hybrid learning experience and extensive coursework and curriculum development that will bring Graber and Saylor to Harvard University’s iconic campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“UD’s School of Nursing is going to be represented at Harvard on an international level. That’s exciting. And we’re excited to develop a nursing education curriculum and see nursing through the lens of other healthcare professionals. By learning from professionals outside of our discipline and seeing and embracing diverse perspectives, we can devise innovative solutions that solve critical challenges and transform nursing education,” Saylor said.