Faculty and Staff

Started by the C.C. and Mabel Criss Memorial Foundation, this chair fosters research leadership, faculty mentorship and a vibrant scholarly culture.

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Current Chair: Dr. Amanda Kirkpatrick, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP | Associate Dean of Research and Innovation; professor

Dr. Kirkpatrick is internationally recognized for her leadership in palliative care education and simulation-based learning. Her framework shaped the AACN CARES competencies, and her simulations have improved student competency and led to global tool adoption. She has also been a Brooks Scholar Research Fund scholar, and she used the award to deepen her scholarship in palliative care, publishing widely and mentoring junior faculty on topics of caregiver support and serious illness communication.

Read more about Dr. Kirkpatrick.

Started in 2023 by Kathy Keough Soto, BSN’75, and Gilbert Soto, BA’72, Michael Keough and the Donald and Marilyn Keough Foundation, this chair supports leadership in nursing education and practice, ensuring faculty have the resources to pursue transformative research.

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Current Chair: Dr. Meghan Potthoff, PhD, APRN-NP, PPCNP-BC, CPNP-AC | professor of nursing

Dr. Potthoff developed the “GO Wish Together Pediatric Card Game” to help families navigate difficult healthcare decisions, which has been translated into multiple languages. She also collaborates nationally to align palliative care education with AACN Essentials, ensuring curricular relevance and quality. Previously, she was a Lenke Endowed Research Fund scholar, which allowed her to conduct nationally recognized research in pediatric care, developing evidence-based approaches to support families and improve outcomes for seriously ill children.

Read more about Dr. Potthoff.

Started by Richard O’Brien, MS’58, MD’60, and Joan O’Brien, SJN’55, this chair rotates between the College of Nursing and the School of Medicine and supports interdisciplinary teaching and research focused on addressing complex healthcare issues.

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Current Chair: Dr. Martha Todd, PhD, APRN-NP, FNP-C, FAAN | professor

Dr. Todd co-developed the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument (C-CEI®), a nationally and internationally recognized tool for evaluating clinical competency in both simulated and real-world settings. In collaboration with Laerdal, she also recently launched the updated C-CEI® 2.0 to support competency-based nursing education.

Read more about Dr. Todd.

Started by Elizabeth Lenke, BSN’86 and Lawrence G. Lenke, MD, this three-year award provides protected time and funding for faculty to conduct pilot studies that lead to extramural funding and national recognition.

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Current Scholar: Dr. Sara Banzhaf, DNP, APRN-NP, PMHNP-BC | associate professor; track leader for the psychiatric-mental health track

Dr. Banzhaf leads an interprofessional initiative to expand psychiatric-mental health care for vulnerable populations. She also secured funding from the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska to increase the psychiatric-mental health workforce in Nebraska by supporting dual-certified nurse practitioners.

Read more about Dr. Banzhaf.

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Current Scholar: Dr. Trina Walker, ARE DNP, APRN, FNP-C | assistant professor

Dr. Walker leads interprofessional efforts to integrate pharmacogenomics into primary care and nursing education, including the development of an educational hub for faculty unfamiliar with genomic content. She also chairs the NIH-affiliated Nursing Genomics Project Group and contributes to national educational modules on pharmacogenomics.

Read more about Dr. Walker.

Started by Ella Stradinger Brooks, PhD, BSN’81, this three-year award supports faculty in advancing their research and leadership through protected time and targeted resources.

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Current Scholar: Dr. Sarah Ball, PhD, RNC-OB, C-EFM, CHSE | faculty chair - traditional BSN program; assistant professor

Dr. Ball leads a team studying the use of immersive virtual reality (IVR) to assess nursing competencies using the C-CEI® 2.0 in realistic, 3D clinical environments. Her ongoing work explores the use of VR in Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) to enhance student preparation for clinical practice.

Read more about Dr. Ball.