Jewel Yoder, DNP ’20

Jewel Yoder teaches at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, and is the chair of the nursing department. She also serves as the director for BSN education.

“Without this program I certainly would not have had the qualifications to be promoted to department chair,” Yoder said. “So, it is a launching point for me to continue to expand my nursing leadership skills in the academic arena.”

“Jewel exemplifies what every program would want to see in a student in their academic program,” Stoltzfus said. “Her expanded and expanding ability to think differently, to understand things in a new way is the goal of any academic endeavor.”

Yoder’s project, “Seamless Academic Progression in Nursing an ADN to MSN leadership Program Development,” is working to build a new nursing leadership program using existing resources at Goshen College. This project also focuses on seamless matriculation from the associate degree to the master’s degree.

Yoder says if all comes together as planned, the program will be considered for launch in the 2022-23 academic year.

“There is such joy in the pursuit of knowledge,” Yoder said. “That following your passion and being empowered to create change is meaningful and yet hard work.”