Theresa Puckett, PhD(c), RN, CPNP, CNE is currently a doctoral candidate in nursing at the University of Akron. Her dissertation work examines the role of risk and protective factors in the development of health-compromising behaviors among incarcerated juveniles. The work is funded by three grants.

Ms. Puckett earned a MSN in Child and Adolescent Health nursing from the University of Akron in 2002 and is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner. She has a masters certificate in nursing education from the University of Toledo and is a certified nurse educator. Her BSN is from Ursuline College.

Ms. Puckett began teaching for Cleveland State University's School of Nursing in the Fall of 2009. She previously served as an assistant professor of nursing at Cuyahoga Community College e where she taught across the curriculum, coordinated the peds/psych/ob course, chaired the program evaluation committee, and chaired the program accreditation committee. She also has experience teaching at the bachelors and masters degree levels and co-directed the graduate program at Ursuline College.

Interested in active learning strategies, Ms. Puckett develops and implements innovative teaching methods such as using art to engage students in reflective practice, using Epi-Info to track student effectiveness, and using concept mapping to engage students in critical thinking. She developed and web-published a Real Word Learning Object titled, The Emerging Avian H5N1 Influenza and has presented these and other strategies at local and national conferences.

Ms. Puckett is involved in several professional activities such as certification commissioner for the National League for Nursing (NLN), onsite evaluator for CCNE, manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Nursing Scholarship and test item writer for the PCNB PNP certification exam. She is one of five nurse educators in the country selected for the 2008-2009 NLN/Johnson and Johnson Faculty Leadership Mentoring program.

Ms. Puckett authored Medical Mission to Romania: An Inward and Outward Journey, Trafford Publishers) and is currently co-authoring a core pediatric undergraduate textbook titled, Critical Components of Pediatric Nursing.

Believing strongly that Ph.D. prepared nurses should remain proficient at the bedside, Ms. Puckett is employed PRN in the child and adolescent psychiatric unit at Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital and works at Windsor-Laurelwood Center for Behavioral Medicine as a nursing supervisor. .