Forefront Fall/Winter 2018: Beyond the Classroom

Stock image of a closeup on a microphone with an audience in the background.

Beyond the Classroom

DNP Alumni Create Post-doctoral Leadership Lecture Series

By Helen Jones-Toms

"While there are many post-doctoral learning opportunities for PhD graduates," said Joyce J. Fitzpatrick, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN, Elizabeth Brooks Ford Professor, "there is a tremendous need for those experiences for DNP graduates."

More than 30 DNP alumni of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing agree. They joined forces with gifts and commitments as members of the newly created Founder's Circle to establish a DNP Post-doctoral Leadership Lecture Series. The series is part of the school's recently founded Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy, for which Dr. Fitzpatrick serves as inaugural director.

"As DNP alumni, we looked for a way to continue our FPB engagement while making a powerful demonstration of our commitment to the future of nursing leadership," said MariLou Prado-Inzerillo, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, vice president of nursing operations at NewYork-Presbyterian and a 2017 graduate of the program.

In her role at NYP, Dr. Prado-Inzerillo has coordinated six cohorts of DNP students. She serves as co-chair of the Founder's Circle, along with Sonya Moore, DNP, CRNA, director of the FPB Nurse Anesthesia Program and a 2016 DNP graduate.

"Our DNP graduates definitely are more confident and empowered to influence and make decisions in multiple settings across the organization," said Dr. Prado-Inzerillo. "This lecturship will help continue to prepare them while allowing them to network with established alumni across the globe."

Dr. Fitzpatrick added, "This lecture series expands the knowledge-base and expertise of our graduates, as well as our students, while exposing them to nationally recognized leaders." She also noted that the lectureship plays an important role in the Academy's five-point plan to champion FPB as a leadership destination.

Besides clinical, academic, and executive continuing education opportunities like the lecture series, the Academy will focus on leadership development for faculty, staff, and students; curriculum development including a DNP Executive Sequence; research and scholarship on nursing leadership; and in-residence and visiting faculty focused on various aspects of leadership.

The DNP Post-Doctoral Leadership Lecture Series will debut this spring (2019) in New York City. A second lecture will coincide with the August (2019) DNP intensives at the school's new home in the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion at the Health Education Campus in Cleveland, Ohio.

To learn more about the lecture series and the Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy, visit the Academy's website.