June 24 – Three Northwest Mississippi Community College School of Health Science faculty completed the Bower Leadership Fellowship on June 6.
Northwest graduates of this fellowship program are Betty Ginn, Northwest’s Practical Nursing Director; Leslie Russell, Nursing Instructor; and Courtney McMullen, Nursing Instructor. Both Russell and McMullen also serve as Course Coordinators in the Associate Degree Nursing Program.
“The Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) Program is one of several programs within the School of Health Sciences,” said Lesley Thweatt, MSN, RN, CNE, Director of Associate Degree Nursing at Northwest. “The ADN Program provides quality nursing education to prepare students as entry-level registered nurses to meet the nursing needs of the community. The ADN Program is a two-year program of study that provides quality student-centered nursing education preparing entry-level nurses to meet the needs of the community. The ADN program is housed at the Senatobia Campus and will expand to the Southaven Campus in January 2025.”
Kandy Smith, DNS, MN, RN Director of Faculty Development and Continuing Education at UMMC presents each Bower Leadership Fellowship graduate (from left, Courtney McMullen, Betty Ginn, and Leslie Russell) with their plaque. (Photo by Lesley Thweatt)
The Bower Fellowship Program is designed to be a two-year program to support nurse educators at the community college level in developing leadership skills through projects focused on incoming and current students.
“My experience in the Bower Emerging Leader Fellowship sharpened my leadership skills by utilizing Kouzes’s and Posner’s Leadership Challenge concepts to make extraordinary things happen in organizations,” McMullen said. “Including modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart.”
Ginn said the projects she worked on while being a part of this project worked heavily with student retention. She learned more about leadership, herself, her weaknesses, supporting her faculty, and utilizing strategies to help build up her team.
“We all want to be heard and appreciated,” said Ginn. “And a good leader does both to the ones under them.”
If you want to learn more about Northwest, please visit northwestms.edu.
