DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty

2024

Kristin Bussell, PhD, CRPN-PMH, assistant professor, has been named UMSON’s 2024 recipient of the DAISY faculty award, having received multiple nominations for the award. A nominator noted her “exemplary leadership” in serving as interim director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner – Family specialty. Another said she has “dedicated incredible work, expertise, and passion to UMSON and the greater UMB and Maryland communities consistently for many years.” The nomination celebrated her support of high-quality education and her role as an outstanding collaborator, particularly on interprofessional grants. Another nominator hailed her as a mentor: “She invested her time and energy into helping me learn in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service.” In addition, Bussell’s dedication to clinical education is a common theme throughout the nominations. One said, “Dr. Bussell has shown a commitment to excellence in nursing education outside of the classroom through her dedication to developing strong clinical placements. She has stressed the importance of attending events hosted by local practices to support their efforts, explore new connections, and strengthen our partnerships. Building these relationships also ensures that our students continue to learn from high-quality practices.” Another echoed, “Kristin is dedicated to the full continuum of nursing education and all the necessary people that make a program run and maintain the success that ours has. She is dedicated to the students, preceptors, alumni, faculty, staff, and all others who interface with her. She is an incredibly supportive colleague and mentor.”

2023

DeNiece Bennett, DNP, RN, assistant professor and director of UMSON’s NCLEX Success Program, has been named UMSON’s 2023 recipient of the DAISY faculty award. Her dedication to student success and her enthusiasm for teaching were underscored in the nomination submitted by one of her students: “Time and time again, she demonstrates her flexibility in ensuring student success, whether it involves meeting virtually on weekends, assisting with extracurricular activities outside her advisory role, or advocating for exploration in every realm of nursing. In my first semester, Dr. Bennett proactively reached out to involve me in the School of Nursing, and since then, she has continuously motivated me to achieve my goals at UMSON by supporting me in creating my student organization, getting me involved in research symposiums, and the list goes on. She serves as a role model and a genuine academic leader within UMSON. Her dedication is evident through her constant availability, willingness to answer any question, hosting outside of class study sessions, and her forward-thinking approach. Dr. Bennett is actively engaged in addressing the needs of minority students within the program and the nursing profession by collecting primary data to foster a more inclusive School of Nursing. Her teaching style inside the classroom is dynamic, catering to a diverse range of learners that extends beyond the conventional visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and reading/writing methods. She consistently devises innovative approaches to engage her audience effectively. Her multifaceted teaching methods consistently excel at stimulating critical thinking and clinical decision-making by seamlessly integrating real-world case scenarios. Dr. Bennett embodies the quintessential qualities of an exceptional nursing professor, and she will always be the driving force behind my and many others’ achievements at UMSON. Every aspect of her teaching and her tireless commitment to the success of her students, including her respect, commitment to education, enthusiasm for teaching, outstanding service, and more, exemplifies the qualities that make her undoubtably deserving of the DAISY award.”

2022

Veronica “Ronnie” Quattrini, DNP, FNP-BC, assistant professor and senior director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, has been named UMSON’s 2022 recipient of the DAISY faculty award, having received multiple nominations for the award. Her leadership and enthusiasm for nursing education and nursing practice make her an exceptional role model for students. She is described as “upbeat” and active, and one of the nominators likened her to the Energizer Bunny. “She is honest, dependable, incredibly hardworking, compassionate, and student-focused. Beyond that she is an impressive medical provider who is always engaging in the most up-to-date evidence based medicine. Her knowledge and expertise as a nurse practitioner was a huge advantage to my academic education and clinical experiences,” one nominating student in the DNP Family Nurse Practitioner specialty wrote. “She always manages to foster positive discussions and bring out the best in each student she teaches.” Another nominator who has worked with Dr. Quattrini in multiple student and colleague capacities wrote, “She has been able to demonstrate her commitment to propelling nursing education, ultimately improving student performance in the classroom and improving their performance in the clinical setting. Her passion for patient care and clinical expertise also drives her passion to improve nursing education.” Another student whom Dr. Quattrini has precepted added, “She allows her students to dictate the level of participation needed from her based on their skill and experience level. She is so knowledgeable about a variety of topics and always ensures the student understands each clinical situation. Her main priority is the patient and this is evident by the way she carries herself; she always provides compassionate care and is always aiming to improve patient outcomes through her work.”

2021

Regina Phillips, PhD, RN, CNE, assistant professor, has been named UMSON’s 2021 recipient of the DAISY faculty award. Her passion for nursing education was noted in the nomination submitted by one of her students in pathopharmacology: "Dr. Phillips has made an extraordinary impression on my first semester of the Clincical Nurse Leader program. She is extremely knowledgeable in pathopharmacology and demonstrates excellence every day. She serves as a role model by sharing her personal experience as a clinical nurse, her accessibility to students for best learning, and informative and entertaining lectures. The material in her class is far from easy, and yet she makes it interesting to always want to study first. Each week, she records videos for what to expect for the week, and I eagerly look forward to watching them each week. Dr. Phillips certainly deserves the DAISY award. She demonstrates excellence in and out of the classroom. It is evident she cares about each of her students on an individual basis, and it shows. It makes a large university feel like an intimate family. She demonstrates enthusiasm at 9 a.m. every Wednesday and Thursday for a total of five hours a week. If there is any opportunity for her to teach another course for the CNL curriculum, please consider her. She is enthusiastic, intelligent, kind, flexible, and cares very much for individual success of her students."

2020

Amanda Roesch, DNP, MPH, FNP-C, assistant professor, has been named UMSON’s 2020 recipient of the DAISY faculty award, marking only the second time that UMSON has bestowed the award. Roesch is passionate about educating the next generation of UMSON advanced practice nurses to provide compassionate care to diverse populations. She weaves her experiences caring for underserved populations both locally and internationally into her teaching strategies. She challenges students to broaden their perspectives with her curricular design. As an ally for the LGBTQ+ community, she is committed to ensuring her students have the knowledge and skills to provide affirming, inclusive care to this population, and she includes this in the courses she teaches.

Roesch has also collaborated with a community/public health nursing initiative to provide physical exams to children enrolled in Head Start programs. This affords her the opportunity not only to teach Family Nurse Practitioner students to care for the pediatric population, but also to provide culturally sensitive care to a diverse population.

Her passion and enthusiasm for teaching are evident in both didactic and clinical settings. Students describe her as knowledgeable, dedicated, hardworking, and passionate and her teaching style as creative, unique, interactive, and fun. As one student stated, “Dr. Roesch is a true asset to the entire school.”

As a colleague, Roesch elevates the bar as a team player. She is always willing to assist at any level to improve curriculum and has developed many case studies, OSCE encounters, redesign of rubrics, exams, and, perhaps her most significant contribution, the episodic tool designed for Advanced Health Assessment. Roesch is a true example of UMSON’s core values.

2018

At the Baltimore Graduation ceremony on Dec. 17, 2018, UMSON presented its first DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty posthumously to Debra L. Wiegand, PhD, RN, CCRN, CHPN, FAHA, FPCN, FAAN, former associate professor in the Department of Organizational Systems and Adult Health, who died in November.

With a clinical background in cardiac critical care nursing, Wiegand taught palliative care, end-of-life, and bioethics courses. Her research focused on improving care provided to families of patients with acute and chronic life-limiting illnesses, studying family-focused interventions to facilitate the physical and psychosocial adaptation of families both during the dying process and after their loved one’s death. Having led or participated in nearly 20 projects, Wiegand generated research that also illuminated ICU nurses’ experiences of providing care to individuals near death and their families and the toll such care takes on nurses. In addition to her positions in academia and clinical practice, she contributed to the field through her leadership in national and international organizations related to family nursing, hospice and palliative care, critical care, and heart disease.