June 5, 2013

Columbia, Mo. — Debra Gayer, associate professor in the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing (MU SSON), was recently honored with the University of Missouri System President’s Award for Inter-Campus Collaboration. Gayer shared the award with colleagues at the University of Missouri–St. Louis and University of Missouri–Kansas City Schools of Nursing: Dawn Garzón and Susan Farberman, UMSL, and Diane King and Virginia Rahm, UMKC. Each member of the group received a $2,000 award.

Robert Schwartz, UM President’s Office chief of staff, surprised Gayer with the award in front of her colleagues and students. The Inter-Campus Collaboration Award Gayer received, recognizes faculty who engage in activities that foster collaboration across two or more campuses of the UM System. Their project, begun in 2000, focuses on sharing faculty resources to offer three required core courses through online delivery for each school’s pediatric nurse practitioner program. The faculty overcame various barriers at each campus: differing program curricula, budgeting systems, fee schedules and technology expectations. The quality educational content developed provided a richer learning experience as students benefited from faculty expertise from the three schools and interactions with students from across the state serving varied populations from rural to urban young patients.

“Dr. Debra Gayer has worked diligently to educate pediatric nurses in the state of Missouri and beyond to help meet the growing need for primary health care advanced pediatric nurse providers,” said Dean Judith Fitzgerald Miller, MU SSON dean. “This online pediatric nurse practitioner program addresses the needs of nursing students in rural and underserved communities in Missouri.”