On the Cover

Clockwise / Clarkson College Board of Directors and event guests listen to Dr. Orduña's welcoming remarks. Nurse Anesthesia students refine their skills in the OR simulation space. Students and staff gather in the hospital bed wing of the new fourth floor space.

Clarkson College celebrated the opening of the Interprofessional Learning Center with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 16. The Center opened at the beginning of the fall 2019 semester with students and faculty utilizing the space for interactive, hands-on learning experiences.

The Clarkson College Board of Directors, including Nebraska Medicine CEO Dr. James Linder, and College faculty, staff and students attended the ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new space. Interim President Dr. Aubray Orduña opened the event by welcoming guests and thanking community members for their help in developing the facility. After Dr. Orduña’s introduction, Chair of the Board Dr. Steven Black cut the ribbon and officially opened the space. Attendees enjoyed refreshments while exploring the Center’s four fully equipped exam rooms, six hospital patient beds with working headwalls, nurse’s station, six exam tables and two classrooms. They also had the opportunity to explore the operating simulation room designed to allow students to practice within a realistic surgical space, complete with hospital-grade hand washing sinks and overhead lighting.

The Interprofessional Learning Center is the result of a complete overhaul of the previous Skills and Simulation Labs. The renovation plans doubled the lab size to span an entire floor. The new lab will offer students the opportunity to immerse themselves in different environments and prepare them for a variety of health care experiences.

Directors collaborate to offer leadership skills workshops

Clarkson College faculty are dedicated to building relationships with the many excellent organizations within the community and providing them with benefits to help them in their professional endeavors. Director of Community Health and Interprofessional Education Sarah Flanagan, MSW, MPA, LCSW, and Director of Health Care Education and Leadership Ryan Meers, Ph.D., recently collaborated to create the Leadership

Series, a set of courses providing professionals with insights into effective practices for their organizations.

More than 30 professionals attended the first series “Make Meetings Matter,” led by Dr. Meers last summer. The course focused on helping individuals learn to plan, organize and conduct more efficient meetings. “The response was overwhelmingly positive,” says Flanagan. “Many of the participants requested more Leadership Series and even offered new ideas for topics.”

Creating this dialogue between the College and attendees was a primary goal for the academic directors. Both Flanagan and Dr. Meers hoped to develop existing partnerships with community members and offer opportunities for them to experience everything Clarkson College has to offer. “Our goal was to cultivate new partnerships that were mutually beneficial,” says Flanagan. “We want to support employers as they promote the development and ongoing education of their staff.” Courses feature an interprofessional focus to enhance communication and teamwork across the spectrum of health care and social service providers. They also provide professionals who work in clinical settings, educational institutions, community organizations and a wide array of other fields with tangible ideas they can utilize within their organizations to provide quality services and retain valuable employees.

Following the first Leadership Series, organizers took participants’ suggestions and began planning for two more topics in 2020. The College will offer “We Need to Talk: Handling Difficult Conversations” in the spring as well as “Building Interprofessional Skills: Strategies to Improve the Client Experience” in the summer.

Individual and group registration is open for both courses, and space is limited. Professionals within certain disciplines can earn Continuing Education Credit through Clarkson College Professional Development.

Each course within the Leadership Series offers a small, interactive learning environment to foster dialogue between attendees and instructors. Register for the next course by visiting ClarksonCollege.edu/ Leadership-Courses.

Faculty member and alumna steps into Director position

Jessica Niemann, PTA, M.Ed. (’99, ‘16), is using her years of experience educating future health care professionals to step into the role of Director of Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) at Clarkson College. She accepted the role in September 2019 after serving in an interim capacity since May 2019.

Niemann began teaching at the College in 2015, more than 16 years after earning her Associate’s degree in PTA from the institution in 1999. She went on to earn her Bachelor’s degree in Health Care Services, also from Clarkson College, and her Master’s degree in Education for Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University during her time as an instructor in the program. Now, she’s ready to lead the program and continue its academic success.

Director of Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) Jessica Niemann assists PTA student Lexi Yagodinski in the Interprofessional Learning Center. “Our program has a strong history of graduating highly qualified PTA professionals,” she says. “I have been truly blessed to be able to be an instructor for the program over the past five years. The director position was an opportunity to use my skills and educational background to continue the tradition of our program.”

Niemann has seen several changes take place during her time with the program, including the implementation of the Bachelor of Science in PTA degree option. As one of only a few institutions in the nation to offer the degree, Niemann sees it as an opportunity to collaborate with other programs throughout the nation. “One of my goals is to collaborate on another level with other PTA programs, specifically with the Bachelor’s degree in PTA option,” she says.

As Director, Niemann will also lead the program as it prepares for its reaccreditation through the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) in October 2020. She looks forward to working with faculty to make updates to the program based on the commission’s criteria. “I love fostering collaboration for curriculum and instruction to continually build our program and guide students toward successful outcomes,” she says.

Her experiences as both a student and instructor in the College program give Niemann a unique perspective on what the department can offer future PTAs. The knowledge she brings to the Director position, along with her years of experience working in the physical therapy field, will help her lead the department well.

The Clarkson College Graduate Nursing program recently added two new specialty options in Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and was named one of the top 100 Best Online Graduate Nursing Programs in the nation for the ninth year in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

The institution launched the new options to help meet the need for educated practitioners within these two critical health care areas. “We are excited to be able to offer these additions to our Graduate Nursing program,” said Director of Graduate Nursing Layna Himmelberg, Ed.D., MSN, CNE. “There is a tremendous need, not only in Nebraska, but across the United States for these nurse practitioners, and we are thrilled to fulfill that need.”

Nebraska faces a shortage of mental health practitioners, particularly in rural areas of the state. Nurses who enter this field help meet a need for the increase in behavioral health specialists at primary care locations. Similarly, the need for nurse practitioners in the acute care field is on the rise. The United States is experiencing a physician shortage, and nurse practitioners can help fill the gap by providing acute care for critically ill individuals.

The two new options are part of the award-winning Graduate Nursing program that U.S. News & World Report has named as one of the top online options in the nation for the ninth year in a row. The organization’s rankings are based on factors such as engagement, faculty credentials, expert opinion, student excellence, and services and technology. In order to be considered, programs must be accredited and offer all required nonclinical coursework through internet-based distance education courses.

Enrollment for the two new specialty options is now open, and those currently enrolled in the Clarkson College Graduate Nursing program have the opportunity to move into one of these new specialty tracks. Learn more at ClarksonCollege.edu/Nursing.

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to all community members who supported Clarkson College by donating to our Anatomage Table fund. In fall 2019, the College embarked on a journey to raise money for the state-of-the-art teaching tool that gives students access to functional anatomy in new and exciting ways. Generous supporters helped raised more than $29,000 for the educational device.

The funds are the result of private donations as well as numerous efforts by College community members to raise awareness about the fundraiser. In September, the College organized its annual Choose to Give campaign where employees had the opportunity to support the College through monetary donations. This year, employees could choose between donating to the Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship Fund, facilities updates, the student assistance crisis or the Anatomage Table fundraiser. Sixty-five employees made donations during the campaign and raised over $9,500 for the new technology.

Students also became involved in fundraising efforts during an organized calling campaign on Nov. 19. Student Ambassadors volunteered their time to call alumni and provide them with information about the Anatomage Table as well as details about how to donate. The campaign gave alumni the opportunity to connect with current students and hear firsthand how the new technology could benefit future health care professionals.

Clarkson College agreed to match all donations made to the Anatomage Table during the calling campaign, as well as all donations contributed from Nov. 19 until “Giving Tuesday” on Dec. 3. During this time, the institution invited members of the health care and higher education fields as well as preceptors, clinical liaisons and other Clarkson College supporters to join the fundraising effort.

Anatomage Table The Anatomage Table is a 3D visualization system for anatomy and physiological education. The technology presents topics using a fully interactive, life-size touch screen that offers capabilities beyond traditional classroom practice. Four gross anatomy cases, more than 20 high resolution regional anatomy cases and over 1,000 pathological examples are available for students to study.

The College will house the device in the Interprofessional Learning Center and have the ability to transport the tool across campus for use by all academic programs. On-campus and online students will be able to digitally dissect and study cases in an interactive learning environment, which leads to improved understanding and retention.