Melissa Owen, PhD, RN, was awarded the Emory Williams Award for Distinguished Teaching, the university’s most prestigious teaching award during the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing’s Diploma Ceremony.

Owen has served on the faculty since 2012 and leads the School of Nursing’s Bachelor of Nursing Science (BSN) program. As BSN track coordinator, she has been instrumental in developing new courses and teaching strategies to deepen students’ learning and retention of critical skills while strengthening their professional confidence as nurses.

“Dr. Owen’s innovative teaching methods have closely tied education and practice and fostered deep learning amongst undergraduate nursing students,” said Linda McCauley, dean of the School of Nursing. “Her contributions have greatly enriched our school and the educational experience of our students.” 

Using a methodology called, deliberate practice, Owen has enhanced students’ retention of procedural skills, and developed teams of intentional and highly skilled clinicians. Her work using deliberate practice was published in Nurse Educator and presented nationally during the 2016 National League for Nursing/Sigma Theta Tau (NLN/STTI) Nursing Education Research Conference.

Owen was selected for the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence’s (CFDE’s) inaugural cohort of Teaching Fellows. As a fellow, she developed and piloted a peer-to-peer educational program to improve student retention. Dr. Owen was also instrumental in the development of an elective course for freshman and sophomores at Emory’s College of Arts and Sciences, called Nursing 101: Introduction to Professional Nursing. This course was designed to engage students early in the wide range of career opportunities available to them as nurses.