The FY 2022 Nurse Faculty Annual Recognition Awards (NFAR) were recently announced by the Nurse Support Program II, which is administered by the Maryland Higher Education Commission and funded through the Health Services Cost Review Commission. Twenty-three of Maryland’s finest nursing faculty were named as award recipients including Harford Community College’s Mary Beverly Gallagher, Assistant Professor in the Division of Nursing and Allied Health Professions. Awardees were recognized for their contributions to nursing education and their service to Maryland nursing students.
To be considered for this annual award, deans and directors of nursing programs nominated full-time nursing faculty who demonstrated excellence, innovation and leadership in their nursing programs. The award recipients were chosen from selected areas of excellence demonstrated by the faculty member in the following categories: Excellence in Teaching, Impact on Students, Engagement in the Nursing Program and Employment Institution, Innovation in Education and Technology and Contributions to Nursing Education. Each awardee will receive $10,000.
Gallagher has been serving as full-time faculty at Harford since 2015 and currently teaches in the classroom, laboratory, and clinical settings for the College’s foundational nursing course, NURS 101, Fundamentals of Nursing. As chair of the Nursing Department’s Student Affairs Committee, she is responsible for organizing student policy revisions and maintenance of the student handbook. She also plans and oversees the nursing pinning ceremony each semester. Gallagher helped to establish the Gamma Upsilon chapter of the Alpha Delta Nu national nursing honor society at Harford Community College and serves as a faculty advisor. She is also the faculty advisor to the Student Nurses Association. Gallagher is a member of the Nursing Scholarship Committee and co-chair of the Nursing Department’s Testing Committee. She also serves on multiple HCC committees including the Safe Zone Committee, demonstrating her support of inclusion for students at the College. In addition, she serves on the Academic Appeals Committee and Steering Committee for Middle States Reaccreditation serving as co-chair for Standard 3. Gallagher’s work with students, College committees, and mentoring new faculty led to her being featured as Harford Community College’s Faculty Spotlight for June 2021.
According to Sonia Galvan, Dean, Nursing and Allied Health Professions at Harford Community College, Gallagher has mentored multiple faculty who were not only new to the College and division but new to nursing education: “She is very approachable and welcoming to new faculty, helping them grow in their educational goals while providing support and guidance.” Dean Galvan said that highly engaged and seasoned faculty such as Mary Beverly are critical to the success, retention and program completion of newly-admitted nursing students.
Gallagher earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Delaware and a Master of Science in Nursing Education from Towson University. She has also achieved certification as a Nurse Educator (CNE). She is a member of the National League for Nursing (NLN) and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
For more information on the awards, go to https://nursesupport.org/nurse-support-program-ii/grants/statewide-initiatives/-nurse-faculty-annual-recognition-nfar-/.
