St. Louis Magazine Honors SLU Nursing Faculty

by Bridjes O'Neil

Bridjes O'Neil
Communications Specialist
bridjes.oneil@slu.edu
314-282-5007

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ST. LOUIS — The tradition of educational excellence continues at Saint Louis University. St. Louis Magazine has named five nurses and a graduate student from the Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing as honorees for the 2023 Excellence in Nursing Awards. St. Louis Magazine will recognize the winners online and in the May issue.

Nursing faculty at SLU are nationally recognized for their teaching expertise, nursing leadership, scholarly research and student mentorship. Faculty members from SLU's School of Nursing have won numerous prestigious awards, honors and fellowships, including regular honors from the March of Dimes and Excellence in Nursing Awards.

Students sit outside in front of a brick building on a bright, sunny day on SLU's south campus.

Students sitting on the grass by the School of Nursing. SLU file photo.

This year, two nursing faculty are honorees in the educator category. A SLU nurse has won the coveted award 10 times in the past 12 years. In 2018, all of the honorees for the Excellence in Nursing Educator of the Year award were SLU faculty.

The 2023 Excellence in Nursing honorees are:

Education Category

Bobbi Shatto, Ph.D., associate professor of nursing and coordinator for the MSN-CNL program, is nominated in the Educator category. In 2022, Shatto spearheaded an effort to secure a $298,137 grant to combat the nursing faculty shortage. SLU was one of 11 Missouri colleges and universities awarded nearly $3 million in grant funds to help enhance nursing education programs and develop solutions to alleviate staffing shortages nationwide.

Education Category

Karen Cuvar, Ph.D., associate professor of nursing and level one coordinator for the Traditional BSN program, is nominated in the Educator category. Cuvar teaches fundamental nursing courses and online critical care nursing courses. In 2020, Cuvar’s students nominated her to receive the DAISY Foundation’s DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, citing her positive, caring attitude, enthusiasm, and love of the nursing profession.

Community Care Category

Heather Wade, DNS, assistant professor of nursing, is nominated in the Community Care category. As COVID-19 took over our community, Wade’s nominator said she moved aside some of her teaching duties to coordinate, facilitate, and run the SLU COVID-19 vaccine and testing center. Wade also taught nursing students how to vaccinate thousands of people in the community at open events, nursing homes, and university-wide vaccine days. Community members have begun to see Wade as the face of pandemic care.

Orthopedics Category

Christopher Hemmer, DNP, associate professor of nursing, teaches primarily in the graduate nurse practitioner program, preparing future nurse practitioners to care for patients in areas like primary care nursing. Hemmer says helping students embark on specialized and unique career paths in nursing is one of his specialties and one of the reasons he chose to become a nurse himself. Hemmer studies fractures and osteoporosis in the adult population.

Research Category

Karen Moore, DNP, associate professor of nursing, is nominated in the Research Category.She recently received a Fulbright Specialist Award. Moore, who studies global health and international exchange, will spend up to six weeks in Ireland assisting with the development of the DNP role and curriculum, strengthening ongoing international nursing exchange at Dublin City University, and working on the development and curriculum for simulation within their nursing curriculum. She currently teaches in the DNP program at SLU and helped to design and coordinate a simulation center at a prior institution.

Intensive Care Category

Constance Owen, a graduate nursing student, is nominated in the Intensive Care Category.

Read more about past recipients from 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016.

View Full List of Nominees

About Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing

Founded in 1928, the Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing at Saint Louis University has achieved a national reputation for its innovative and pioneering programs. Offering bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral nursing programs, its faculty members are nationally recognized for their teaching, research and clinical expertise.