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Governor's Professor of the Year named by Beth Barnett Khan College of Nursing Nancy Duffy, R.N., assistant professor in the College of Nursing, was named the Governor’s 2007 Professor of the Year for four-year institutions of higher education.   Duffy has been a faculty member since 1990, first in the Charlotte Presbyterian Hospital nursing program, later in the UNC-Charlotte nursing program, and most recently MUSC.   She teaches in and serves as the director of the undergraduate program at the College of Nursing  (CON). She also chairs MUSC’s faculty senate education and communication committee, as well as serving as a member of two other institution-wide committees. She earned a bachelor's degree in nursing at Bradley University and a master of science  degree in nursing at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.   “Ms. Duffy is truly a role model for all of our faculty in that her teaching expresses  both her love of nursing and her desire to share all that she knows in a way that energizes the next generation of nurses,” said Gail Stuart, Ph.D., R.N., dean of CON.   Duffy’s students also speak highly of her. “She exemplifies the integrity and passion that is needed to encourage and teach students in such an accelerated program,” said one of her students, Lynn DiVecchio. It comes as little surprise, therefore, to learn thatshe was selected by the undergraduate students to receive CON’s Golden Lamp Award four times, an award given to the faculty member who has most influenced their eduation.   Her instruction and mentoring of students has won her a variety of other awards, including MUSC’s Outstanding Teaching Award for the College of Nursing Baccalaureate Program and the 2007 MUSC Foundation Teaching Excellence Award. She also was awarded the MUSC Educator-Lecturer Award “for bringing learning to life,” for her encouragement of students to achieve, and for her ability to make her classes both enjoyable and educational. Before coming to the MUSC, she was recognized as one of North Carolina’s Great 100 Nurses.   Duffy reaches outside MUSC as a part of her commitment to energizing secondary students, who are expressing interest in a possible career in nursing, as an enthusiastic participant in the MUSC/Charleston County School District Summer Nursing Camp. A clinical expert in adult care with an emphasis in Emergency Nursing, Duffy stresses the need for clear thinking during health care crises. “My classes use critical thinking questions and short case studies that pose simple and complex clinical problems,” she said. “If a student’s response lacks depth or insight, I value the input and encourage more reflection. This guided teaching-learning exchange engages the student in an active learning process and encourages respect for a diversity of opinion.”   Duffy’s classroom teaching includes a balance between a focus on the serious materials at hand and an appropriate mix of humor, which she interjects both to lighten the content and to demonstrate the irony of clinical situations. Her teaching style has clearly been a stimulating elixir for both student learning and for a successful professorial career for herself.   A person of high energy, Duffy is continuing her own student career as a candidate for a degree in a doctor of nursing practice program. “I love learning,” she said, “and I believe it should be a lifelong commitment of everyone.”   Her commitment to the vitality of learning is recognized by Raymond Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., MUSC president, who said, “Professor Duffy is a truly deserving recipient and all of her colleagues at the Medical University take great pride in her selection as the Governor’s Professor of the Year.”     Friday, Nov. 23, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.