By Angela Cinquegrana Crowley, BSN’ 71, MA, PhD, APRN, PNP, FAAN

At the conclusion of this academic year, CUA Conway School of Nursing will bid farewell with deep gratitude to Dr. Elizabeth Hawkins-Walsh, Ordinary Professor of Nursing. After 33 years of dedicated service, Dr. Hawkins Walsh is retiring from her active faculty position.

Through her vision, example, and tireless efforts, she has been instrumental in promoting the mission of the Conway School of Nursing “to prepare professionally educated nurses who are capable of the moral, intellectual, and professional leadership needed to provide continuing quality in clinical nursing care, in nursing education, in nursing research, in nursing service, and to advance nursing knowledge and skill through scientific inquiry and other scholarly activity.”

"Under Dr. Hawkins-Walsh's leadership, students uniformly have 100% first-time pass rates on national certification examinations. And as an expert in curricular design, Dr. Hawkins-Walsh led our transition to online programmatic offerings.  "

Dr. Hawkins-Walsh earned her MSN, PNP and FNP post-master’s certificates, and PhD at Conway School of Nursing and is certified as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Pediatric Primary Care Mental Health Specialist. She arrived at CUA in 1989 to direct the MSN/PNP Program, one of the first in the country. Since then she has served as an exemplary educator and has shaped the innovative PNP masters’ program which is highly regarded by faculty across the country. She quickly attributes much of the success to her good fortune in working with fellow PNP, Carole Stone, MSN, who joined her in expanding the PNP program with federal funding to prepare PNPs to work in the growing field of school-based health care and the establishment of a pediatric faculty practice at the Washington Free Clinic. Other highlights included collaborating with local Universities on the DC area AHEC grant, creation of the AHEC scholars program, and the opening of an integrated pediatric behavioral health clinic with CUA psychiatric mental-health nursing faculty colleagues.  Responding to the growing need for acute care PNPs, Dr. Hawkins-Walsh was among the first educators in the country to develop a dual certification PNP Primary Care and Acute Care program and she disseminated her work at national conferences and through publications. Her innovative efforts led to important educational and practice changes across the country. In addition, she served during its two inaugural years as director of CUA’s Doctor of Nursing Practice Program.

For the past 14 years she served as Assistant/Associate Dean for Master’s Programs and Community Outreach. In that capacity, she expanded clinical sites and served as principal/ co-investigator for numerous training and research grants in the areas of school-based health, technology-enhanced education, primary care, and behavioral health. For over 20 years, Montgomery County has continued to award funding to CUA’s CSON to manage school-based health clinics led by CUA PNPs. This successful model of health care delivery employs a wellness and interdisciplinary approach to providing essential primary somatic and mental health services to adolescents in high schools with a highly diverse student population.

Dr. Hawkins-Walsh’s numerous scholarly publications and presentations on education, practice and policy are widely disseminated. She has provided an important voice in the critical area of pediatric primary mental health care for more than 20 years. Consequently, she was invited to serve on the National Academy of Medicine’s Task Force on Children's Mental Health, on the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board’s Primary Mental Health Specialist Exam Committee, and designated as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. CUA recognized her many contributions to teaching, practice, and research in awarding her the first Ordinary Professor of Practice in 2018.

Reflecting on Dr. Hawkins-Walsh’s impact, Dean Emerita and Ordinary Professor Patricia McMullen, PhD, JD, CRNP, FAANP, FAAN, stated, “Under Dr. Hawkins-Walsh's leadership, students uniformly have 100% first-time pass rates on national certification examinations. And as an expert in curricular design, Dr. Hawkins-Walsh led our transition to online programmatic offerings.  Consequently, our online programs have been rated as #6 or #7 nationally by US News & World Report for the past 4 years.”  Dr. Jane Cox, ‘82 established a scholarship in Dr. Hawkins-Walsh's name, characterizing her as the ‘embodiment of the highest standards of nursing education, research, practice and scholarship.’ Dr. Hawkins Walsh is the "go to" person when one is faced with a particularly challenging conundrum. She is always willing to listen and often infuses a wry sense of humor to diffuse a difficult situation. She is a kind, wise and a compassionate colleague and friend, in fact, a role model for the Conway School of Nursing nurse. I and so many are blessed because we know Elizabeth!”