Chicago Nursing Professor Enjoys Mentoring And Coaching Students
Tiwanna Wallace-Agbenyegah is an assistant professor at Chamberlain College of Nursing, Tinley Park campus. She serves as the course coordinator for the collaborative healthcare (leadership/management) and capstone (nurse practicum) courses. This position allows Wallace-Agbenyegah to instruct senior nursing students on leadership and management aspects of professional nursing and to help facilitate preparation for them to pass the NCLEX-RN exam.
Wallace-Agbenyegah first entered the nursing profession by obtaining her Practical Nursing & Pharmacology Vocational Certificate from Kennedy King College in 1997. She then completed her Associate of Applied Science in nursing at South Suburban College in 2002. Next, she transferred to Governors State University and completed her Bachelor of Science in nursing degree in 2004. Lastly, Wallace-Agbenyegah decided to seek further advancement in nursing education, so she went back to Governors State University in 2010 and completed her Master of Science in nursing administration degree in 2013.
What are the scope and responsibilities of your current role?
"My responsibilities as nurse professor include establishing positive classroom relationships with students, actively engaging students in experiential learning activities, incorporating higher level learning, creating an interactive classroom environment and atmosphere of mutual respect, grading all course work and providing timely feedback, mentoring and coaching at risk students and following all university policies regarding disciplinary problems, including plagiarism or cheating."
What is your favorite part of your daily duties?
"The favorite part of my daily duties includes helping students gain knowledge and be able to relate course instruction to real life patient situations. Also, [I enjoy] mentoring and coaching students that are at risk with developing study and test-taking strategies that will aide them in successfully completing their nursing courses."
Do you feel your education prepared you for your current role?
"My advanced nursing education definitely prepared me for being proficient at educating future nurses and developing their competency with improving nursing and the healthcare industry."
Do you have any advice for people who desire to pursue a similar career?
"Yes, my advice to those special people who are compassionate and value serving others would be to do their research on the nursing profession to make sure that they understand what's expected of them. Also, I advise them to be honest about whether they are willing to be committed to grueling study hours as well as clinical hours. If they are, then I encourage them to apply to at least three nursing programs that they found to better fit their needs and be sure to obtain at least a B average on all of their science courses. Lastly, all nursing programs have stringent admission requirements and pre-entry exams, so I advise those interested to be mindful of this."
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