Exceptional Early Career Award: Pam Karagory

In recognition of outstanding undergraduate teaching, two pre-tenure professors recently received the 2015 Exceptional Early Career Award for tenure-track faculty. This Q&A focuses on award recipient Pam Karagory, clinical assistant professor of nursing.

Years at Purdue: 5

Teaching interests:  Innovations in quality improvement, patient safety and health care systems. Academic and health care industry partnerships and the digital badges and their impact on student motivation.

Goals as a professor: My goals stem from approaching everything I do guided by a learner-centered focus and perspective. Focusing on the learning and professional development needs of my students is central to my purpose and provides me clarity in defining my academic and educator goals. Having insight and understanding into the individual and collective learning needs of my students is paramount in developing pedagogical strategies that resonate with them.

Each student -- and student cohort -- is unique, and this requires me to be flexible, creative, and open to innovation, often driven by the students themselves. Remaining open, passionate, encouraging, and committed to guiding my students in achieving their goals is the foundation of my teaching.

Pam Karagory, recipient of the 2015 Exceptional Early Career Award and clinical assistant professor of nursing. (Purdue University photo/Charles Jischke)  Download Photo

What Karagory enjoys most about teaching: Successful teaching is rooted in a student-faculty relationship that is collaborative, honest and respectful. I have had the privilege to experience the development of my students' knowledge, skills, and confidence. This is the most satisfying aspect of my faculty role.

These young women and men are the future of my  profession. I take the responsibility to role model excellence seriously. I believe that my students' experience, to the commitment I have to their success, translates to their commitment to excellence and passion in their professional development. I never forget that my students are part of a family; someone loves and supports them. As a steward, guiding them to academic success, I never forget my responsibility to both them and their family.

On developing academic-practice partnership opportunities and implementing quality improvement projects for nursing students: Creating opportunities and experiences for student learning to occur in contextual clinical environments is key in developing knowledge and skills that are relevant to today's authentic health care environment. Through support, encouragement and belief in my students' abilities, I set the learning curve and expectations high for their quality improvement/health care systems experience. Through collaboration with health care organizations, our student quality improvement teams, using project management and leadership principles, solve system defects, gaps, waste, and problems.

This innovative approach in nursing education steps outside the traditional and prescriptive approach to nursing curriculum. Our students are change agents, developing communication, leadership, and team-building skills that redefine the role of professional nurses. These skills are what the health care system needs to provide high-quality, cost effective, and safe patient care. This is an example of academia and industry synergy, where both partners benefit and learn for the greater good of the community.

On using digital badges to measure student learning: In challenging and guiding my students to "push" the scope and breadth of their learning through innovative and demanding assignments and project work, I recognized that our ability to capture and illustrate student achievements and competencies are limited. With only transcripts and grades to measure achievement, the granular and contextual learning and skills developed through the rigors of the curriculum were lost.

Developing a School of Nursing digital badge program provided our students with an opportunity to recognize and display their achievements, competencies and skills in a mobile framework. I know how prepared, competent and skilled our students are, and providing a mechanism for this information to be shared with potential employers and industry is a responsibility, I believe, inherent in my educator role.

What her students say: Professor Karagory was an amazing professor. She constantly encouraged me to do better and helped me think critically. She would go out of her way to be of assistance to myself and fellow peers, and I cannot thank her enough for all she has done. She is an amazing role model and an encouraging and helpful professor. … Professor Karagory is probably the best professor I have ever had and ever will have in my college career. Her love for the profession and her dedication to her students are evident in the way she interacts with all of us. I love that she trusted us to learn the course content on our own instead of just giving us the answers.