Mount Saint Mary College’s Nursing Workforce Diversity (NWD) program hosted a workshop featuring Wanda Thruston, DNO, APRN, RN, and director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the American Association for Colleges of Nursing (AACN), on Wednesday, March 20.
Thruston works to promote diversity in academic nursing, create inclusive classrooms and teaching styles, improve hiring and retention of faculty of color, and more.
At her Mount presentation, attended by students, faculty, and staff of the college, Thruston discussed teaching models specifically designed to support students from diverse backgrounds who might encounter obstacles in their path to academic achievement.
Factors such as race, socioeconomic standing, and gender can create disparities between student academic outcomes, said Thruston. To counter this, she teaches how to empower students and bridge gaps, fostering a more inclusive and diverse nursing workforce.
The Mount’s School of Nursing was recently awarded a $1.6 million, three-year Nursing Workforce Diversity grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The NWD program focuses on the recruitment, support, retention, and graduation of nursing students from underrepresented groups. It increases nursing education opportunities and assists students from disadvantaged backgrounds to become baccalaureate-prepared nurses. The nursing students in this program benefit from a multitude of support services and opportunities to serve the community.
The Mount’s service-focused approach to education goes hand-in-hand with helping professions like Nursing. Mount Nursing students enjoy state-of-the-art simulation labs and clinical relationships with dozens of area hospitals. The Mount’s passionate faculty are dedicated to the success of both their undergraduate and graduate students.