Scholar Awards
Recognizing Excellence in Scholarship and Innovation
Creighton’s College of Nursing has established several awards for faculty and other leaders who advance nursing practice through research, education and their leadership. These scholar awards celebrate and support groundbreaking projects, early-career excellence and national voices shaping the future of care. Learn more about the awards and recipients below.
Distinguished Scholar Award and Lecture Series
Started by Dean Catherine Todero in 2019, this annual series is co-sponsored by the College of Nursing and CommonSpirit Health. It’s designed to promote the integration of current evidence into nursing practice through multiple speaking engagements delivered by the Distinguished Scholar over two days. Previous years featured Dr. Bernadette Melnyk (2019-2020), Dr. Betty Ferrell (2020-2021), Dr. Peter Buerhaus (2021-2022), Dr. Holly Wei (2023-2024), and Dr. Joyce Fitzpatrick (2024-2025). All these Distinguished Scholars brought national perspectives on topics ranging from evidence-based practice to nursing leadership and workforce development.
2026 Award and Event, April 29-30, 2026 (Omaha and Zoom)
Our 2026 award will be presented to Dr. Nora Warshawsky, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN. Dr. Warshawsky is the nurse scientist for Press Ganey Associates where she leads the research and development of the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators. She is internationally known for her cutting-edge research focused on identifying the impact of leadership development and job structure on nurse manager performance outcomes. Her expertise is built on more than 40 years in nursing practice, leading graduate nursing academic programs, and coaching nurse executives. Dr. Warshawsky will deliver a lecture series over this two-day event to share her research findings and engage participants in ways to apply these findings to their teaching, leadership and nursing practice.
The Faculty Innovation, Research, and Education (FIRE) Seed Fund
These one-year awards, which range from $500 to $5,000, were started by Mary Gloeb Govier, BSN’87. They support pilot research with the potential to secure external funding and inform larger studies. Past Creighton College of Nursing Scholar Awardees include Drs. Becky Davis, Shelly Luger, Misty Schwartz and Susan Connelly. Our 2024-2025 awardees, their projects and awards are listed below.
- Lori Rusch: Post-pandemic Experiences, Perspectives, and Needs of Nursing Staff Working with Nursing Students in Hospital Settings | $500 award
- Katie Zander, Lisa Benson-DeVries, Lindsay Iverson, Julie Shin, Ann Ryan-Haddad, Julie Peterson, Cassie Eno and Kim Begley: C-ICE Instrument Revision Project in Measuring Interprofessional Team Behaviors and Supporting Instrument Adoption | $500 award
- Shelly Luger & Johnathan Hogzett: Leading Authentically: Even During Conflict | $2,000 award
- Anne Harty, Sam Hughes (student), Jordyn Howe (student), Kimberly Zuzenak, Margo Minnich, Jerilyn Kamm and Amy Cosimano: A Phenomenological Approach to Understanding Stress Experienced by Nursing Students | $500 award
- Tamara Oliver & Anne Schoening: The Lived Experiences of Virtually Integrated Care Nurses | $500 award
Joan M. Lappe, MS’85, PhD, Excellence in Scholarship Award
This annual $1,000 award was started by Dean Jessica Clark in 2024 to honor Dr. Lappe’s legacy and honor early-career faculty who show exceptional scholarly promise.
Recipients
Lucas Manning, DNP-PHP, MSN, RN, CHSE
Lucas Manning received the inaugural Joan M. Lappe, MS’85, PhD, Excellence in Scholarship Award in recognition of his early scholarship endeavors related to nursing simulation. These efforts include co-authoring three manuscripts and presenting at numerous conferences. Manning also secured grant funding for three projects—with the potential for future extramural funding.
Ryan Batenhorst, EdD, MEd, NRP
Ryan Batenhorst, Assistant Professor in the Department of Paramedicine, is recognized for his innovative research in virtual reality, neuroacoustic interventions and tools that advance clinical practice and mental wellness.
Endowed Chairs
Started by the C.C. and Mabel Criss Memorial Foundation, this chair fosters research leadership, faculty mentorship and a vibrant scholarly culture.
Current Chair: Dr. Amanda Kirkpatrick, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP | Associate Dean of Research and Innovation; professor
Dr. Kirkpatrick is internationally recognized for her leadership in palliative care education and simulation-based learning. Her framework shaped the AACN CARES competencies, and her simulations have improved student competency and led to global tool adoption. She has also been a Brooks Research Fund Scholar, and she used the award to deepen her scholarship in palliative care, publishing widely and mentoring junior faculty on topics of caregiver support and serious illness communication.
Started in 2023 by Kathy Keough Soto, BSN’75, and Gilbert Soto, BA’72, Michael Keough and the Donald and Marilyn Keough Foundation, this chair supports leadership in nursing education and practice, ensuring faculty have the resources to pursue transformative research.
Current Chair: Dr. Meghan Potthoff, PhD, APRN-NP, PPCNP-BC, CPNP-AC | professor of nursing
Dr. Potthoff developed the “GO Wish Together Pediatric Card Game” to help families navigate difficult healthcare decisions, which has been translated into multiple languages. She also collaborates nationally to align palliative care education with AACN Essentials, ensuring curricular relevance and quality. Previously, she was a Lenke Endowed Research Fund scholar, which allowed her to conduct nationally recognized research in pediatric care, developing evidence-based approaches to support families and improve outcomes for seriously ill children.
Started by Richard O’Brien, MS’58, MD’60, and Joan O’Brien, SJN’55, this chair rotates between the College of Nursing and the School of Medicine and supports interdisciplinary teaching and research focused on addressing complex healthcare issues.
Current Chair: Dr. Martha Todd, PhD, APRN-NP, FNP-C, FAAN | professor
Dr. Todd co-developed the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument (C-CEI®), a nationally and internationally recognized tool for evaluating clinical competency in both simulated and real-world settings. In collaboration with Laerdal, she also recently launched the updated C-CEI® 2.0 to support competency-based nursing education.
Started by Elizabeth Lenke, BSN’86 and Lawrence G. Lenke, MD, this three-year award provides protected time and funding for faculty to conduct pilot studies that lead to extramural funding and national recognition.
Current Scholar: Dr. Sara Banzhaf, DNP, APRN-NP, PMHNP-BC | Associate Professor; Track Leader for the Psychiatric-Mental Health Track
Dr. Banzhaf leads an interprofessional initiative to expand psychiatric-mental health care for vulnerable populations. She also secured funding from the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska to increase the psychiatric-mental health workforce in Nebraska by supporting dual-certified nurse practitioners.
Current Scholar: Dr. Trina Walker, ARE DNP, APRN, FNP-C | Assistant Professor
Dr. Walker leads interprofessional efforts to integrate pharmacogenomics into primary care and nursing education, including the development of an educational hub for faculty unfamiliar with genomic content. She also chairs the NIH-affiliated Nursing Genomics Project Group and contributes to national educational modules on pharmacogenomics.
Current Scholar: Dr. Lindsay Iverson, DNP, APRN-NP, ACNP-BC, CHSE | Associate Professor
Dr. Iverson leads a team of interprofessional faculty in expanding use of the Creighton Interprofessional Collaborative Evaluation (C-ICE 2.0) instrument for evaluating team performance in clinical and simulated settings. She is also innovating in the use of artificial intelligence for pedagogical approaches, using AI-driven feedback to strengthen students' communication skills and competency-based assessment in interprofessional education.
Started by Ella Stradinger Brooks, PhD, BSN’81, this three-year award supports faculty in advancing their research and leadership through protected time and targeted resources.
Current Scholar: Dr. Sarah Ball, PhD, RNC-OB, C-EFM, CHSE | faculty chair - traditional BSN program; assistant professor
Dr. Ball leads a team studying the use of immersive virtual reality (IVR) to assess nursing competencies using the C-CEI® 2.0 in realistic, 3D clinical environments. Her ongoing work explores the use of VR in Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) to enhance student preparation for clinical practice.
