Meet April
April is a self-proclaimed introvert who enjoys reading with a hot cup of coffee or tea within reach, singing despite lacking talent, and avoiding small talk & large group meetings as much as possible. When visiting her office, you’ll notice her affinity for Post-It notes, Spotify, & positive affirmations. She prefers to lecture in cute shoes, generally defined as those that make her 5’2” frame 2-3” taller, and she gets pumped up for presentations by listening to Survivor’s ‘80s rock classic, Eye of the Tiger.
To ensure the most direct route to her current career path, she started her journey in secondary education with a BA in journalism from Auburn University. She then returned to academics after a few years as a pediatric dental assistant to earn her MSN through the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Accelerated Master’s in Nursing Pathway (AMNP) in 2013. She focused her clinical career on obstetric nursing, primarily working in Labor & Delivery. She joined the UAB faculty full-time in 2017 and teaches in the traditional BSN and AMNP pre-licensure pathways. As an instructor, she is passionate about finding creative, inclusive ways to engage students in large didactic classes and gets a natural high watching her students forge their own paths in the profession.
She loves fall weather, anything Disney, and striving to be as authentic as possible, even and especially when it’s hard. She draws inspiration from her 9-year-old autistic son, Jack; the people in her life who are consistently themselves; her students; and (hopefully) from you.
About the Blog
Trying to navigate higher education is tough, but it gets easier if you start asking the right questions – with genuine curiosity. This blog was born out of need for a creative space to share ideas (those that worked & those that didn’t) & lessons learned as April seeks to find her place & herself in this competitive, often comparative, profession.
Topics will include:
- Personal development
- Faculty development
- Creativity & inclusion in the classroom
- Student engagement, motivation, retention