Demica N. Williams MSN, RN, CNS
Demica N. Williams is the Department Chair of Nursing at Aiken Technical College
(ATC) where she oversees the function of an associate degree and practical nursing
programs in accordance with state and national accreditation guidelines. She has been
employed at ATC for the past 8 years in other roles to include, Academic Coordinator
and Associate Degree program faculty. In her current role, Ms. Williams works closely
with faculty to lead continuous improvement strategies to enhance the teaching and
learning environments for the practical and associated degree nursing programs. Ms.
Williams has taught courses in nursing fundamentals, nursing leadership, medical –
surgical nursing, and critical care nursing. She actively participates with the SC action
Coalition Team to help implement methods to increase the number of BSN prepared
nurses in the state of South Carolina.
She has committed to this personally and professionally by encouraging all nurse faculty
at ATC to obtain certification as nurse educators; and has received grant funding to do so.
She received her BSN from Bowling Green State University, and an MSN from the
Medical College of Georgia. She is currently a program evaluator for the Accreditation
Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). Some of her professional memberships
include NLN, NOADN, SCNA, SCLN, Sigma Theta Tau, and GNA. She is also a
member of the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) Nursing Workforce workgroup in
Georgia which is a part of the practice area for ATC.
Demica N. Williams MSN, RN, CNS
What are your short and long term leadership goals?
Short term leadership goals are to lead the ATC nursing program faculty in obtaining
certification as nurse educators. I recently received notification for approval of a grant
proposal I submitted to Johnson and Johnson to support all current nursing faculty at
ATC to obtain certification as Nurse Educators. The department has hopes that improving
the professional standards of our faculty will contribute to increased student success.
Long term leadership goals include obtaining a PhD in nursing and implementing a more
seamless plan for academic progression at the technical college level for students who
initially obtain an Associate degree or practical nursing diploma.
ATC has the connectivity to its former graduates and current students to be an ideal
launch pad for associate prepared nurses to commit to obtaining a BSN degree. ATC is
well positioned to do this in terms of access to students, but there are other barriers to the
possibility. These may include and not be limited to SC legislation, the Commission of
Higher Education, the State Board of Technical College Systems, and Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
What impact do you expect this program to have on your personal and professional
development?
I believe I have great potential to develop both personally and professionally as a leader.
I have been in a leadership position in nursing education formally for the past two years
and have not had the opportunity to do any leadership training and look forward to being
considered for an opportunity of this magnitude. I expect it will expose me to other
nursing professionals who are in parallel roles and positions in nursing. After learning
about the Amy V. Cockcroft Nursing Leadership Program I understand that there have
been fellows from very diverse professional nursing backgrounds and I look forward to
sharing a personal and academic platform with nurses from academia and practice. I think
this alone will add to my development as it supports the IOM recommendation (#6:) by
having faculty partner with healthcare organizations to develop and prioritize
competencies.
I expect participating in this program will help me to identify my strengths and
weaknesses as a leader, and help me to sharpen those traits of leadership that I already
possess.
In my current nursing leadership position; I specifically would like to improve my ability
to help identify methods to best engage nursing faculty.
I believe as a leader it’s important to be able to disseminate information, but also ensure
that it is incorporated. I think good leaders are able to establish a productive and
professional culture by serving as change agents among their peers.
Personally, I believe the leadership skills and strategies will help improve upon
communication skills both formally and informally.
What ideas do you have for a interdisciplinary project based on one or more of the
IOM’s 2010 recommendations:
My ideas for a project are geared toward academic progression as it relates to the IOM
recommendation to increase the percentage of nurses with Baccalaureate degrees to 80%
by the year 2020.
1) The nursing department at ATC has an existing articulation agreement with the
University of South Carolina Aiken. Students are provided information about this at new
nursing student orientation so they can begin planning. Students who chose to take
courses that would count toward a BSN degree can do so with the understanding that they
are taking courses “outside of their current program”. This can cause some concern for
students receiving financial aid, as it potentially reduces the financial aid funds available
to them. I would like to explore the option of implementing a “two plus two” program
option at Aiken Technical College with USCA. I see this as a great opportunity to keep
our students in the pipeline for BSN education and increase the numbers of nurses with
BSN degrees in the state of South Carolina. Both colleges have a well-known reputation
in the community for the skill and high level of nursing care our graduates provide.
The concern I see with the current arrangement of the existing articulation agreement is
the loss of access to the students (graduates). The nursing faculty advise all nursing
students each semester and know well which are interested in a continuing degree, and
which are closer to obtaining one. I have to appreciate the number of students that have
worked toward a longer term goal of obtaining a BSN degree since I’ve been the
department chair of nursing at ATC. Along with faculty and the Dean of Nursing at
USCA, we’ve started a very purposeful endeavor to capture students and ensure they
were knowledgeable about the IOM report and the academic trends in our profession. We
are seeing a large number of students planning to, and having completed required general
education requirements for a BSN degree, but there is no requirement to do this. We are
still at the primary phase of determining success since we began with new students the
fall semester of 2013. Our methods to obtain this information are dependent on the results
of graduate surveys, which collect data at 6-12 months after graduation and may be too
premature to obtain the most useful information.
Creating a program option for a student to begin and complete an associate degree, and
then complete the BSN would be a predictable method to ensuring that we were able to
determine the number of students on track to obtain the BSN degree. I also believe these
students would be very attractive to employers who now also have a commitment to
staffing healthcare facilities with a goal percentage of BSN prepared nurses.
Currently, there are healthcare facilities in our practice area that have decided not to offer
clinical opportunities to the associate degree program. There are also healthcare facilities
that require associate degree nursing program graduates to sign a commitment to
complete a BSN degree in a set time frame in order to offer them employment as
registered nurses.
Students need to know that we have a plan for their continued success as professionals in
the short and long term, and that as nursing educators we are vested in their position as
professionals once they complete their program.
2) I would like to develop a program option for a PN to BSN degree, with an option to
graduate out at the associate degree level. This might include articulation agreements
with current BSN programs; however ATC does have the applicant pool to explore this
thoroughly. The nursing program admits students to the practical nursing program twice
per year; many of these students also apply to the associate degree program but are not
competitive enough to be admitted when they apply. There are 13 additional general
education credit hours that are required for the associate degree program than that of the
practical nursing program; many students finishing the practical nursing program have
previously obtained these credit hours. Many of these students go on to work as practical
nurses and later return to begin the associate degree program. Findings of PN graduates at
ATC suggest that students who take less time off between the practical and associate
degree programs have better academic success.