Nursing department chair receives Nightingale Award

Jacquelin Harrington, chair of York College’s Department of Nursing, was recently honored with a Nightingale Award, a statewide honor that recognizes excellence in nursing.

Harrington was selected as the award winner in the Nursing Education category, for her ability to inspire nursing students and practicing nurses. She has been involved in teaching and administrative positions in nursing education for more than 40 years. Both faculty and students give her high praise for her ability to guide their educational and practice experiences, according to Linda Pugh, a professor in York College’s nursing department and a Nightingale recipient who, along with Dean of Academic Affairs Tom Bogart (pictured with Harrington), nominated Harrington for the award.

“She exemplifies the best of education for experienced and inexperienced nurses  -- a quick inquiring mind, a caring and comforting attitude, and an ability to encourage and promote excellence in others, whether baccalaureate or graduate nursing students,” said Pugh and Bogart in the nomination form. “She has truly dedicated her life’s work to the advancement of nursing education.”

As chair of the nursing department, Harrington has developed and implemented an accelerated baccalaureate curriculum, a Master of Science in Nursing degree program for Clinical Nurse Specialist, administrators, and nurse educators, and post-master’s certificate programs. In collaboration with WellSpan Health, she developed and implemented a certified registered nurse anesthetist program, and most recently, she was instrumental in the development and implementation of an adult nurse practitioner curriculum, which began in the fall of 2009. She is currently developing a Doctor of Nursing Practice program, with the goal of beginning in the fall of 2010.

“She has presided over the phenomenal growth in the Nursing Department, both in scope of programs and in the number of students,” said Bogart. “She has responded with a determination, competence, and grace that continually astound me.”

Harrington has consistently approached her nursing practice with skill, scholarship, and innovation and has received significant awards for her work. In 2002, she earned the Excellence in Education award from the York College chapter of Sigma Theta Tau. Also in that year, she received a “Living Legend Award” in Nursing from the Pennsylvania Nurses Association recognizing excellence in teaching. In 2006, she was awarded the Professional Service and Leadership Award from the York College Alumni Association, which recognizes a faculty member or administrator “who has served the college community with great vision and distinction, and who has demonstrated the highest qualities and characteristics of leadership in the completion of his or her professional responsibilities.

Harrington has also held leadership positions in nursing organizations including Pennsylvania Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau International. She has chaired national, regional, and state committees and has served on the board of organizations including the American Red Cross, Teen Age Pregnancy Coalition and Compassionate Friends. Harrington has also published in peer-reviewed journals (Nursing and Health Care, Nurse Educator) and has written white papers on nursing education and the nursing workforce in Pennsylvania.

A non-profit organization, Nightingale Awards of Pennsylvania (NAP) was established in 1989 to honor nurses living or employed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The Foundation’s purpose is “to recognize the exceptional nurses of today and to recruit the nurses of tomorrow.”