In early 2022, the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) announced the Maryland Nurse Faculty Annual Recognition Awards (NFAR), recognizing faculty for their contributions to nursing education and service to Maryland nursing students.
Each of the award recipients is nominated by their Dean or Director of Nursing and receives $10,000.
Dr. Mary O'Connor, PhD, RN, CEN, FACHE, FAONL, Professor of Nursing at Notre Dame of Maryland University, was an NFAR recipient in 2022. Dr. O'Connor shared some thoughts with us on her experience as a nurse educator below:
What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your career as an educator?
The most important thing I have learned as a nurse educator is that there is room for teaching using a non-technical approach. Based on the leaders of Caring Science (Boykin, Schoenhofer, Ray, Locsin, and others) and Circle Practice (Baldwin and Linnea) as a way of being in shared leadership structure...
...my teaching starts with being-with students.
Forming relationships through presence, reflection of their practice experiences, and the literature of nursing scholars is rewarding as I see the advancement of their leadership competence.
My greatest reward from teaching them is their success.
Thank you to Dr. O'Connor for your continued contributions to nursing education in Maryland and congratulations on this well-deserved recognition!
This wraps up our 2022 NFAR awardees spotlight series. You can find the full list of 2022 awardees here: