SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2025: Plattsburgh – Jennifer Shaver

Jennifer Shaver, DNP, MSN, RN began a career as a registered nurse in an Intensive Care Unit. Completing the RN-to-BS program at SUNY Plattsburgh as a non-traditional student was a powerful motivator for her to pursue professional education.  She obtained a master’s degree and then a Doctorate in Nursing Practice, with an emphasis on Education and Research, at Sacred Heart University in Ct. She has subsequently held roles in diverse healthcare arenas, transitioning from nurse manager, director, to eventually chief nursing officer.  Within every role there was not only an expectation of learning but of teaching. 

Jennifer joined the SUNY Plattsburgh Nursing Department faculty in 2013 where she continues to teach, predominantly in the RN-BS program. During the academic year 2023-2024, she filled the role of Interim Chief Nursing Administrator for SUNY Plattsburgh. She continues to teach for the department as an adjunct lecturer, predominantly for the RN-to-BS program. 

Jennifer credits the pandemic with stimulating her incorporation of additional approaches in on-line education. She notes that students quickly adapted to these modes, and in fact expressed appreciation for the more personal focus within the formerly computer-generated distant environment. Video conferencing systems supported live attendance for presentations that could also be recorded and archived for later viewing. Establishing times for virtual office hours, as well as clinical review sessions, was another benefit that students enjoyed and appreciated. Peer and group learning was significantly augmented with tools that the students were comfortable adept with yet had not optimized prior. 

I never viewed myself as a teacher; however, from my now more mature (frankly old) perspective, I believe that I always had a passion for the role. When I was 5 years old, I taught my 3-year-old sister to read. My children have all grown up to be avid readers of diverse genres.  I have cheerfully spent hours coordinating professional presentations for healthcare workers, several at a national level. In fact, if I am on my PC when doing Gramma-duty, I will be asked by my grandchildren (all avid readers themselves) if I am “working” before they interrupt me!

Nursing is a unique professional in that it is the only one to incorporate “caring” as a mandate of licensure. I feel that my greatest strength in my virtual classroom is my ability to draw from an extensive professional background to nurture and support others seeking to expand their own. I establish individual relationships with my students across virtual boundaries.  The calls and emails I continue to receive from former students brings me such joy, as well as validation that I continue to practice nursing, albeit through teaching. Polling my RN-student, current and former, would all confirm that at one time or another I have conveyed the sentiment that I would much rather be an administrator with the heart of nurse than a nurse with the heart of an administrator!