Utah Valley University Nursing/Health Professions faculty member Dr. Dianne McAdams-Jones, Ed.D., RN, CHSE, SFHEA, was recently selected as one of 27 fellows in the 2024 class for the Academy of Nursing Education (ANEF). The national recognition comes from the National League for Nursing (NLN), the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. Dr. McAdams-Jones is believed to be the first faculty in the history of UVU to earn this achievement.

“Nurses who are selected as inductees are expected to have provided leadership contributions in nursing education,” stated Dr. McAdams-Jones. “Further, this honor is about having disseminated your expertise and experience throughout the world of nursing education.”

In her application for this prestigious award, Dr. McAdams-Jones wrote about her personal experience and expertise in applying concepts of the social determinants of health and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials to nursing curricula. Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, access healthcare, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life risks and outcomes. Dr. McAdams-Jones and some of the nursing team with whom she worked will share components of their project at the AACN Transform Nursing Conference in December 2024. Dr. McAdams-Jones was endorsed for this award by Dr. Kathie Lasater and Dr. Voncella McCleary-Jones, two well-renowned nursing education leaders.

In a recent press release announcing the 2024 inductees, NLN Chair Patricia Sharpnack, DNP, RN, CNE, NEA-BC, ANEF, FAAN, dean and Strawbridge professor at the Breen School of Nursing and Health Professions at Ursuline College in Ohio, congratulated the 2024 fellows on behalf of the NLN Board, saying, “Academy fellowship is a singular achievement, and we applaud your extraordinary leadership, fortitude, creativity, and compassion in inspiring and motivating your students. Thanks to your example as nursing professionals and teaching excellence, generations of nursing students have learned to do their very best in preparing to deliver outstanding care to a diverse patient population as they transition to practice in a dynamic healthcare environment.”

Dr. McAdams-Jones is entering her 19th year at UVU. Before her UVU full-time educator role, she spent multiple years in the United States Army Nurse Corps as Major McAdams-Jones, nurse manager for the Medicine and Surgery Acute Care Ward at Frankfurt (West Germany) Army Regional Medical Center and then nurse manager of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia. She also held leadership/directorship roles in the civilian sector for years before and beyond her military career. She earned a doctorate in health professions from the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska, and a post-doctorate in nursing education from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.

She, along with fellow UVU Nursing/Health Professions colleagues Victoria Ekpoma and Megan Spurlock, attended the induction ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, as part of the NLN’s annual educational summit.