Nicole Simonson, DNP, RN, is a Professor in the College of Nursing and Director of RN-to-BSN Completion Programs at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She has taught a variety of courses within the undergraduate nurse curriculum including health and illness, genetics and genomics for healthcare professionals, leadership, and capstone. Her scholarly interests include nurse education (specifically, students of RN-to-BSN completion), competency-based education (CBE), interprofessional collaboration, nurse professional development, and leadership. When not teaching, Nicole enjoys spending time with her family, dogs, gardening, and spending time outdoors.

Jessica Hertig, MSN, RN, ACM, CNE, is a Clinical Instructor in the College of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. With a practice background in acute-care case management, population health, and leadership, she has taught a variety of courses and clinical courses within the undergraduate, Master of Nursing (MN), and RN-to-BSN programs. Her teaching passion is creating teaching tools and assignments that meet the student’s needs while showing their competency in a certain area. She was recently honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty. When not teaching, Jessica enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, and crocheting.

Jill Saxton, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, CNL, CNN, is a Clinical Instructor in the College of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and a part-time nurse practitioner in the Division of Nephrology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She enjoys teaching clinicals and health assessment courses for nursing students along with caring for chronic kidney disease patients. Working with adult learners is her specialty area, and she loves to find ways they can use their experience to enrich their assignments. Her hobbies include reading and traveling. Jill also enjoys attending concerts, sporting events, and festivals.

Amy Driscoll, DNP, RN, GCNS-BC, CDP, is a Clinical Instructor in the College of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and a full-time Director of Education and Clinical Practice in the Continuing Health Division of Advocate Aurora Health Care. With a background as a board-certified Geriatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, she translates evidence into practice and brings relevant experience to the classroom setting. Her scholarly interests include care of the older adult in the community, clinical program development, onboarding, and leadership. Her hobbies include traveling and reading.

Allison Grady, MSN, APNP, is a pediatric nurse practitioner practicing in oncology and acute pain at Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She also works at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee as a Clinical Instructor in the College of Nursing. Prior to becoming a nurse practitioner, she worked as an editor for the American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics (née Virtual Mentor) from 2004–2008. She has a particular interest in palliative care, health policy, and bioethics.

Paula Lucey PhD, RN has had many roles in healthcare.  She had a progressive career in Milwaukee County as a staff nurse, supervisor, Director of Nursing, and Chief Operating Officer of the now-closed John L. Doyne Hospital, a public safety net hospital with a Level One Trauma Center.  Then she was the Director of all Milwaukee County Health Programs where she created and administered a pioneering health care system for persons who were medically indigent.  This program was recognized nationally as a model of care.  She had a cabinet-level position as Director of Health and Human Needs.  After early retirement, Paula began to work in the mental health field including director for a community-based program and then Division Director for all of the Milwaukee Couty Behavioral Health.  She has been teaching at UWM since 2010 and is currently the program director for the MN program at UWM.  Paula has a Doctorate in Leadership and an Honorary Doctorate from the Medical College of Wisconsin in recognition of her community leadership.  Paula is a professional Auntie and loves to cruise.

Gwen Pennington, DNP, RN-BC, AGCNS-BC is a doctorly-prepared Adult/Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist and certified Case Manager with 15 years of experience in home health, palliative, and hospice. Her work focuses on professional development for clinicians working in these post-acute settings and her peer-reviewed journal publications are Improving Retention of Home Health Nurses: Fostering Outcome… : Home Healthcare Now (lww.com) and Clinical Nurse Specialist Collaboration With a Community-Bas… : Clinical Nurse Specialist (lww.com).

Vipavee Thongpriwan, PhD, RN, CNE, aims to empower nursing and other health science students to improve the quality of life for patients with chronic care conditions, especially for patients living with mental health conditions. Her research interests are in mental health, nursing education, qualitative research, interpersonal violence, and cross-cultural methods. Her current research explores Public Health Nurses’ mental distress and burnout in relation to the emergency preparedness and response cycle during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Kathryn Weis, DNP, RN, AGCNS-BC, has teaching and clinical experience in caring for adults, older adults, and veterans with acute and chronic conditions in specialized areas, such as critical care, cardiology, electrophysiology, gastroenterology, and surgical recovery. She has clinical experience teaching undergraduate and BSN-completion nursing students in their last semester before they graduate and transition to growth in professional nursing practice. She completed her doctoral project on advance care planning. She also assists in quality improvement initiatives at her workplace in a hospital-based gastroenterology procedural department and guides students in completing quality improvement projects and applying evidence-based practice in the clinical setting. Dr. Weis volunteers as Treasurer and DAISY Committee Chair for the Wisconsin League for Nursing, Inc. (WLN), where she assists with the direction and sustainability of the organization and coordinates the development of a new DAISY Nurse Leader Award to recognize formal and informal clinical nurse educators. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, dog, and family; traveling; camping; exercising at the gym; boating; gardening; baking; and bicycling.

Ryan Anderson is the Director of Instructional Design and Development for UW Extended Campus. His team works with faculty across the state to create online degree completion programs. He has a particular interest in ensuring that students have access to quality open educational resources.

Ryan Specht-Boardman is the Senior Program Manager of the UW Flexible Option, the University of Wisconsin System’s suite of innovative competency-based degrees and certificates. His role is to help lead, manage, and support the academic portfolio to ensure its students, faculty, and staff are best positioned for success.