Heba Sadaka, assistant professor of nursing at UA Little Rock and a nurse of 29 years, has been selected for Arkansas’s Great 100 Nurses Award!

“I feel very grateful. It’s an honor, and I appreciate that someone took the time to nominate me,” Sadaka said. “I also feel like I am surrounded by good people in the nursing field, and I believe there are so many other great nurses out there.”

The Great 100 Nurses Foundation was founded more than 30 years ago by PK Scheerle, a registered nurse in New Orleans. Since its founding, the Great 100 Celebrations have honored thousands of nurses across Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Nurses are selected for the Great 100 Nurses Award based on their concern for humanity, their contributions to the profession of nursing, and their mentoring of others. Sadaka and her fellow award winners were honored during a Sept. 27 reception at Embassy Suites Hotel in Little Rock.

“I am so proud of Heba for being selected for Arkansas’s Great 100 Nurses Award,” said Dr. Sloan Davidson, director of the School of Nursing. “She is a diligent faculty member, student advocate, and registered nurse. UA Little Rock School Nursing is fortunate to have her.”

A nurse of nearly three decades, Sadaka began her career by earning a Bachelor of Science in nursing in 1993 from Alexandria University in Egypt before moving to North America. After this move, she completed a master’s degree in nursing education/acute adult gerontology from the University of Iowa in 2010.

As a certified nurse educator, Sadaka has been teaching nursing courses for over 15 years. She taught at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston before joining UA Little Rock in 2017 where she teaches in the RN-BSN Program.

“Nursing education is about inspiring nurses,” she said. “I know these students come to nursing because most of them love working with people and taking care of people. Nursing is not just a job. I want my students to love being nurses.”

Sadaka and her husband, Sammy, associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, live in Little Rock and have two children, Monica and Kyrilos.

Sadaka is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in nursing from UAMS and plans to graduate in 2023. In her dissertation, she is researching the correlation of environmental factors on children’s physical activities.