23: THE DNP IN THE ACADEMIC ROLE ■ 515(continued)assignment to the coordinator of the Patient Care Services Administrative Track
where she led curriculum revision and implementation of this program into an
online learning format. She was later promoted to director of the Undergraduate
Nursing Program. For the 11 years before her employment at SHU, Dr. Beauvais
worked in various leadership positions at Stamford Hospital, including nurse
manager of the pediatric and psychiatric units, case manager, and performance
improvement coordinator. Dr. Beauvais was the Magnet® coordinator that suc-
cessfully led Stamford Hospital to be recognized as a Magnet hospital. These
experiences, her graduate degree in business, her currency with literature and
surrounding herself with excellent mentors in and outside of nursing equipped
her with the skills necessary to lead an academic program.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Dr. Beauvais has been able to share her expertise, passion, and commitment to
nursing to inspire the new generation of health care providers and nurse lead-
ers. Besides her wealth of expertise in nursing leadership, education, and curric-
ulum design, Dr. Beauvais has numerous scholarly activities, which are a credit
to her philosophy that disseminating information to others is the way to make
changes. Dr. Beauvais has earned a range of formal certifications in the areas of
psychiatric and mental health nursing, nurse case management, clinical nurse
leader, emotional intelligence, and trauma nursing. At both Sacred Heart and
Fairfield Universities she has been charged with leading new programs, such
as the clinical nurse leader and DNP programs. Her familiarity with NCLEX
(National Council Licensure Examination) has made her an effective leader in
helping programs improve their curriculum and testing methods to improve
pass rates.
As a self-reported lifelong learner, Dr. Beauvais successfully studied for
and passed the national examination as a clinical nurse leader so that she could
have the same skill set that she was expecting of her master’s students; this is
another sign of her solid commitment to the nursing profession and academic
excellence.
Dr. Beauvais has over 15 peer-reviewed presentations and articles and sev-
eral book chapters, which speak to her contributions to the nursing profession
and health care field. She is a peer reviewer for several referred nursing jour-
nals and is a sought after consultant by health care organizations applying for
Magnet recognitions because of her expertise in this area. Her DNP education
and work experiences have enabled her to obtain several grants to support her
research on emotional, develop innovative teaching pedagogy, and establish
community-based geriatric wellness programs.
Dr. Beauvais reports she has had numerous mentors who have helped her
on her journey. As transformational leaders they created an atmosphere that
supported her development as a faculty member and both as a service and
■ CASE STUDY: DNP Graduate as an Associate
Dean of Nursing (continued)