IVCC’s Cathy Lenkaitis awarded nurse educator fellowship

The Illinois Board of Higher Education awarded 76 nurse educator fellowships totaling $760,000 for fiscal 2024, including one to Illinois Valley Community College’s Cathy Lenkaitis.

The awarded fellowships will help retain well-qualified nursing faculty at institutions of higher education that award degrees that lead to a registered nurse licensure, the IBHE said in a news release Thursday.

Retaining qualified nursing faculty will help ensure that nursing students are prepared to enter the workforce and fill a shortage in a critical area of the health care workforce. The number of grants awarded almost doubled from the previous fiscal year because of an increase in funds in Gov. JB Pritzker’s fiscal 2024 budget supported by the General Assembly.

Fellowships were awarded to nurse educators with a strong commitment to use fellowship funds to enhance their professional practice in their specialty area and who remain in higher education. Each fellowship is $10,000, and the funds are salary supplements that may be used for expenses related to professional development and continuing education to enhance the fellow’s practice as a nurse educator, as well as the fellow’s nursing program.

This year’s fellows are focusing their fellowship funds on nursing simulation training and instructional development; diversity, equity and inclusion training; the development of new curriculum, teaching methods and research; earning professional certifications and advanced degrees; and attending professional conferences for nurse educators.