BUIES CREEK — During the Campbell University Board of Trustees’ Oct. 30 meeting, Campbell University Provost Mark L. Hammond introduced Dr. Nancy Duffy as the director of the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences’ proposed nursing program.
Duffy is tasked with bringing to fruition the proposed Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program that the Board of Trustees approved last spring. The proposed start date for the program is fall 2014, subject to the approval of the N.C. Board of Nursing. Duffy began her duties on Oct. 1.
As to why she accepted the position to lead Campbell’s proposed nursing program, Duffy said: “You have to be willing to take the risk and if opportunity knocks, open the door.”
She added: “The timing of the proposed Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Campbell is perfect for numerous reasons.”
In 2012, there were 75,000 qualified applicants denied admission to nursing programs in the United States. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the employment growth for registered nurses will increase 26 percent from 2010 to 2020. The Initiative on the Future of Nursing — an Institute of Medicine and Robert Wood Foundation project — has also called on schools to increase the proportion of nurses with bachelor’s degrees from 50 to 80 percent by 2020.
There is especially a growing need for care in Harnett County and rural North Carolina, which ranks high in the number of uninsured residents, Duffy said. Like Campbell’s other health sciences programs — which include the newly opened School of Osteopathic Medicine and the pharmacy, public health, physician assistant and anticipated physical therapy programs — the proposed nursing program will emphasize training health care professionals who serve rural and underserved populations, as well as interprofessional education.
“The opportunity to educate health career students in a team atmosphere of interprofessional competencies is right here on the Campbell campus,” Duffy said. “And the opportunity to educate generalist nurses to practice in collaborative care settings with a focus on the needs of the rural and underserved populations is a privilege.”
Duffy joins Campbell from the Medical University of South Carolina’s College of Nursing, where she was an associate professor, director of undergraduate program and associate director of simulation. Previously, she was a certified emergency nurse at the Presbyterian Hospital & Carolina Medical Center in Charlotte (1988-2004) and an instructor at the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing (1990-2004).
Throughout her career, Duffy has served in numerous leadership roles in professional societies and associations at regional, national and international levels. She has received multiple awards that honor her leadership and service to the nursing profession, including most recently the Nurses Educational Fund Scholarship for Leadership, the Palmetto Gold Award Recognition—Top 100 Nurses in South Carolina and the Governor’s Professor of the Year Award for Senior Colleges and Universities.
“Dr. Duffy firmly believes in keeping the nursing profession a thoughtful, meaningful and fun career and in educating students to be safe and reliable practitioners with the ability to apply science to patient care,” Hammond said when introducing Duffy to the Board of Trustees.
Duffy received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bradley University, a Master of Science in Nursing in Adult Health from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Rush University. She and her husband of 36 years, Kevin, have two adult children, a daughter and a son.
“We are very pleased that Dr. Duffy has chosen to join the Campbell University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences family,” said Wesley D. Rich, the College of Pharmacy & Health Science’s assistant dean for administration. “Her passion and energy are already apparent in the work that she has been doing and will propel the health sciences forward on this campus and create a positive impact on the nursing profession statewide. I believe she will be an invaluable addition to the impressive complement of health professionals, leaders and student advocates that we have here in the health programs at Campbell University.”