UA Little Rock Nursing Professor Takes on New Leadership Roles
A University of Arkansas at Little Rock nursing professor has taken on two new roles to build her leadership skills in the community.
In her first new role, Joanna Hall, director of simulation at UA Little Rock, has been named to the board of directors for the Arkansas Center for Nursing, the state’s nursing workforce center as well as a member of the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Center. The nonprofit organization publishes reports related to the supply, demand, and educational capacity of the nursing workforce in the state.
“I will be representing nurse educators from around Arkansas,” Hall said. “I’m very excited to get involved in putting all the data together to create a better picture of the state’s nursing workforce.”
In a new professional development opportunity, Hall is one of 14 people who has been selected for Leadership Saline County Class XVIII. The participants meet every other week for 18 weeks to develop leadership skills and learn more about the resources in their community.
“Saline County is where I call home,” Hall stated. “I’ve lived between Benton and Bryant for the last eight years, my son goes to school there, and we have a lot of UA Little Rock students from there. It’s just a fabulous opportunity to connect with other professionals and look at all the wonderful things happening in Saline County.”
During each class, the students learn about a key component of the Saline County community, including nonprofits, government, media, education, economic development, and fire and police.
“I’m interested in connecting with people in a new way,” Hall said. “Our class has people from banking, academia, real estate, nonprofit, and politics. There are so many people that I never would have met if not for this program. This is a very interesting way to get involved with my community directly. I am very excited to grow my leadership skills.”
Each class also plans and executes a class project that benefits a local nonprofit organization as well as raises funds for the Leadership Saline County Scholarship fund, which annually awards four high school seniors a $500 scholarship.
