Professors Jessica Sullivan and Kirsten Clerkin from the Mennonite College of Nursing were announced as the new Collaboratory Civic Engagement Champions. The award, coordinated by Illinois State University’s Center for Civic Engagement, recognizes civically engaged teaching, scholarship, and service efforts from faculty/staff members in collaboration with community partners.
As instructors in the Mennonite College of Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program, Sullivan and Clerkin partnered with the Kankakee County Health Department to provide health care for adolescent-age patients. The initiative expanded access to wellness visits for adolescent patients and allowed FNP students to have clinical training with the population in 2022 and 2023.
Graduate students in the FNP program collectively spent 90 hours providing wellness exams, including screenings, blood pressure checks, lab work, and immunizations to adolescents. Clerkin said the partnership was sparked when the Kankakee County Health Department reached out to collaborate with the FNP program at Illinois State University to provide adolescent health clinics for their community.
“The health department received grant funding to support these clinics. At the clinics, FNP students provided 34 school and sports physicals, 81 immunizations, and 65 screening tests for adolescent-aged clients. Through this mutually beneficial partnership, the graduate nursing program and health department successfully expanded clinical placement experiences for NP students and improved access to wellness care for adolescents,” said Clerkin.
Collaboratory Civic Engagement Champions are selected based on activity reported on Collaboratory, a database that collects information on a variety of activities from all faculty/staff members (e.g., community-engaged research, outreach programs, events, course-based experiences, co-curricular activities) that utilize community engagement principles, practices, and/or pedagogies.
The traveling trophy was awarded to Sullivan and Clerkin during a Nurses Week Potluck for faculty and staff from the Mennonite College of Nursing. The trophy was first awarded to Dr. Miranda Lin from the College of Education, whose K–12 students from a partner community school helped add trinkets to the trophy.
“Receiving this award from the Center for Civic Engagement is so meaningful to us,” said Sullivan. “We work hard to develop innovative partnerships that are mutually beneficial to both our students and the community, so the recognition of our efforts is greatly appreciated.” The professor stated that, as students transition into the new role of Family Nurse Practitioner, fostering in them a sense of community engagement and social justice helps them “make major impacts in the health of individuals, communities, and populations.”
University activities related to civic engagement reported on Collaboratory can be submitted by faculty, staff, or students and will automatically be considered for the Collaboratory Civic Engagement Champion award.
