02/16/2022
Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Stephanie Clark is a graduate of Cohort 7 and currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of North Alabama. When asked how receiving this degree has helped her career, Dr. Clark stated, “It has prepared me to be an educator who seeks out and embraces innovative teaching/learning methods and employs them in both classroom and online settings. It has prepared me to be confident in making curricular revisions when needed and designing new courses for two newly developed programs within our college. It has also given me a solid foundation in nursing research, which I am not only accountable to perform in the tenure track, but which I also have come to appreciate and enjoy.” Her advice for students is, “Know that the end will come, you will defend your dissertation, and you will walk across that stage in that gorgeous gown and hood before you know it. The time will pass anyway, but whether you have Dr. in front of your name after that time passes is completely up to you! Find something you are passionate about early in the program, and begin writing all assignments you can on that topic, gathering resources and considering related aspects of research interests as you go. When it comes time to prepare for your prospectus, you should have a tremendous amount of the legwork done, and the rest will easily fall into place. Don’t consider the dissertation the dreaded part, consider it the fun part…it’s what you’ve worked so hard to get to do!”