Graduating Class of 2024 Names Teacher of the Year
University of Scranton President Rev. Joseph Marina, S.J., congratulates Cristen M. Walker, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing, who was chosen as teacher of the year by the University’s graduating class of 2024. She was presented with the award at Class Night.The University of Scranton’s graduating class of 2024 has named Assistant Professor of Nursing Cristen M. Walker Ph.D., as teacher of the year. The University announced the award at Class Night on campus in May.
The annual teacher of the year award honors a faculty member found to maintain high standards of academic excellence and fairness and who inspires the interest of students in a field of education through enthusiasm and dedication to teaching. Now in its 28th year, the award was first instituted by the University’s Faculty Senate Academic Support Committee in 1996.
Dr. Walker, of Pittston, joined the University in 2020 and has been teaching undergraduate courses in pharmacology and physical health assessment, among other subjects. She is the undergraduate director of the nursing program and also serves as a medical-surgical clinical instructor for junior and senior students.
Dr. Walker, a former critical care and trauma nurse, is a certified family nurse practitioner by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Her doctoral research examined the impact of a certified therapy dog intervention on nursing student test anxiety. Her professional nursing background is in nephrology, internal medicine and primary care. She is a nurse practitioner at Student Health Services and volunteers at the Edward Leahy Clinic for the Uninsured, as well as the Care and Concern Clinic in Pittston.
Prior to joining the University faculty, Dr. Walker was also a clinical instructor for the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center’s School of Practical Nursing.
Dr. Walker earned her doctorate in nursing education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and was selected as a 2019-2020 National League for Nursing Jonas Scholar. She received a master’s degree in nursing from the State University of New York at Binghamton and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Walker is a member of Nurse Practitioners of Northeastern PA, the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and the Nursing Education Consortium of Northeast Pennsylvania. She is also a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
