Sharp Earns Distinguished Faculty Award
Dr. Jessica Sharp, professor and dean of the School of Nursing, was named the Distinguished Faculty Award winner for 2019-2020.
Dr. Sharp was chosen by her faculty colleagues based on the criteria of “creative and effective teaching, scholarship, personal and professional integrity, and commitment to the mission of the college.”
Dr. Jessica Sharp came to Bluefield College in August 2014. She has been a nurse since 1973, starting as a staff nurse and then a nurse manager before moving into teaching for Bluefield State College and then Beckley College (now Mountain State University). At the same time, she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Marshall University, a master’s degree in nursing from Ohio State University, and then a doctorate from George Mason University. She also holds a family nurse practitioner distinction from Marshall University and a certified nurse anesthetist certificate from Mountain State.
Shortly after joining the Bluefield College faculty in 2014, Dr. Sharp developed a master’s degree in nursing, adding to the already existing RN-to-BSN program in BC’s School of Nursing. The master’s degree offered students the opportunity to concentrate in either a family nurse practitioner program or an education/leadership program.
Since then, under Dr. Sharp’s leadership, the School of Nursing has added a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner certificate and then just recently a master’s degree in psychiatric mental health.
Dr. Sharp said her Distinguished Faculty Award is really an achievement of the entire nursing department and a reflection of the immense efforts of all those in the School of Nursing, including Dr. Yosely Cruz-Fernandez, Dr. Diana Foley, Dr. Robert Wynn, Dr. Nancy Davidson, Dr. Leah Fye, Monica Capp, Rachel Price, all of the adjunct instructors and preceptors, and all the hospitals and clinics that support the BC nursing program and its students.
Dr. Sharp also mentioned the important contributions of the community. She said she is very appreciative of a community of well-educated nurses who are experienced, friendly, and supportive of the efforts of the School of Nursing.
“We want to have BC nurses in every community,” Dr. Sharp said. “The mission of nursing and the college fit perfectly together with the nursing program. Nurses are servant leaders, and nursing is not a job for me. It is my passion.”
Dr. Flowers added that the Distinguished Faculty Award represents the excellence in academic leadership demonstrated by Bluefield College faculty. Dr. Sharp, he said, is well deserving of the award.
“Dr. Sharp was an unquestionable strong candidate,” he said, “after all she has accomplished and what she is planning to do for the college.”