Shelly Fischer

Get to Know Your Faculty Series

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Shelly Fischer, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE
Assistant Professor

What courses do you teach?

I teach leadership and professional issues in all three programs. (DNP program: "Leadership"; Master's program: "Rural Leadership" and "Intro to Nursing Education"; Basic BSN undergraduate program: NURS 3125, "Professional Nursing")

Which program students will have you as a professor?

Basic BSN, Master's, and DNP students will all be in my class at sometime during their coursework at UW.

What brought you to Wyoming, UWYO?

I have been drawn to the University of Wyoming for many years, largely due to its size and the quality of the program. I have worked with many UW nursing students and nursing grads in practice over the years, and they are consistently top quality.

How long have you been with UW SoN?

I am beginning my third year in education, and my third year at UW.

What were you doing previous to this position at UW?

I have been in practice as a nurse/nurse manager/nurse executive for 35 years. I have worked as a Dietary Aide, Nursing Assistant, LPN, RN, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Nurse Manager, Director, and CNO over the years.

What is your passion area?  

My passion is developing leadership in nurses in all roles. I believe nurses are the key to patient safety, and without strong leadership skills we are not able to influence patient care the way we should. All nurses are leaders.we need to take this right and responsibility seriously to positively influence our work environments, patient care, and health outcomes. Along the same lines, I'm passionate about work culture. I believe it is a God-given right to be treated respectfully, and thus we all need to continually expect and work toward a culture of teamwork, support and mutual respect. As nurses, we need to be modeling professional conduct by having zero tolerance for (and speaking out against) incivility of all kinds, in all settings.

If you are doing research, please also talk about that. 

I study how to improve patient care by developing leadership at the point of care. See above "What is your passion area?"

Many faculty have “side interests” that help define who they are. Can you share?  

I live on a small acreage where I grow many things, including chickens and ducks. I enjoy doing sprint distance triathlons to stay active and healthy.

Do you see a relationship now or in the future with your side interest(s) linking up with nursing?

I bring my eggs to work :)

What do you like best about teaching?

I love watching nurses grow and develop skills that not only improve their lives and job satisfaction, but also that of others in their work environments and patient care.

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Page updated: 2019-01-09