Nancy Bellucci, Ph.D., RN, grew up in southern New Jersey, spending most of her life in Egg Harbor Township. She has worked in different aspects of business, including helping her husband run a successful marine dealership. After selling the dealership in 2003, she felt it was time for a change.
As fate would have it, she met a retired nurse at a fundraiser who encouraged her to enroll in college and earn a nursing degree.
With her eldest son going off to college and her two other sons soon to follow suit, the timing seemed perfect to fulfill a lifelong dream.
“The day that I walked on campus is one that will stay with me forever,” she said. “I arrived with a backpack, a sociology book and an enthusiasm of a younger woman. I knew the road ahead would be challenging, but I was finally going to be able to go to college, and it was as if the walkway was paved in gold.”
Fast forward to the present, Dr. Bellucci has more than 18 years of clinical nursing and nursing academics under her belt. She now serves as the academic program director for the new College of Nursing and Health Sciences programs at Columbia Southern University.
Her nursing career began after receiving her RN degree in 2006, where she began working on a medical surgical floor. She stayed in the role for five years; however, her passion always circled back to education.
“The passion for education called me to accept a role as a manager of clinical development in another hospital system who was redeveloping their entire surgical services offerings to the community.” she said. “I took on this role while completing my master’s degree in nursing.”
After budget cuts caused the elimination of the hospital’s perioperative education department, Dr. Bellucci stepped in and helped create an unofficial program that helped hire operating room nurses with no experience.
“I was responsible for crafting and delivering education to over 140 staff and personnel, track education, report on education completed, track competency completions for all aspects of patient care and the technology used to deliver care, fire and workplace safety, and a host of other requirements in order for all service units to be permitted to open, gain certificates of occupancy, pass OSHA and Joint Commission inspections, and New Jersey state regulatory inspections,” she said. “I had approximately five months to achieve this feat. This work had been identified as one of my most important accomplishments as a professional nurse until coming to Columbia Southern University.”
Her expertise in education would shine when she began her career at CSU, when she was hired as the founding academic program director for the future College of Nursing and Health Sciences. The college would focus on oversight, development, evaluation and accreditation of seven new nursing programs.
“It is in this role that I feel I will have made the greatest positive impact and contribution to the nursing profession.”
Given her passion for academia, Dr. Bellucci decided to pursue a terminal degree after receiving her master’s. She completed her Ph.D. in nursing education and started teaching full time in 2016.
“I worked to achieve the terminal degree and certifications all while working, caring for children and family, and maintaining the self. It is through these experiences that I truly understand the nursing student of today.”
In her new role as the academic program director of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, she is excited about the curriculum for all seven programs in which she helped create.
“I wrote it with passion for the profession, purpose, and through a level of detail that speaks to today’s nursing student,” she said. “Each course, learning activity and assessment was designed to be applicable to the current health care trends.”
CSU’s College of Nursing and Health Science programs sets itself apart from many nursing schools in that the program was designed by nurses for nurses, offering innovative technology, real-world health care issues, highly interactive learning environment through digital simulation, experiential learning opportunities, real-time learning opportunities with expert professors through live interactive lectures, and dynamic interprofessional collaboration with other disciplines, all developed with keeping the busy nurse in mind.
“In our curriculum, we employ the use of reflection, interactives, digital clinical experiences through the use of avatars, presentation development and delivery, long-form writing, flipped classroom techniques, and varied activities each week to enhance engagement.
“All of what we use in the classroom at CSU would be considered high-impact practices designed to enhance critical thinking, encourage collaboration and thought-sharing, enhance personal empowerment and development, and increase skill development in the areas of research, improving community awareness, engagement in quality improvement and workplace safety, and increase self-awareness of one’s own power to create lasting and positive change.”
In addition to helping create the nursing program at CSU, she has also presented at the National League for Nursing Summit, the Instructional Design Professionals Conference and the Health Professions Educators Conference. Dr. Bellucci also offered her expertise in nursing by contributing to Faculty Focus, a free newsletter and website dedicated to teachers and instructors throughout the globe.
Dr. Bellucci is a strong advocate for patient-centered care, devising the nursing program to reflect four main components: caring, integrity, excellence, and diversity and inclusion.
“In the CSU nursing programs, the concepts associated with patient/person-centered care are threaded throughout every course,” she said. “A nurse should never lose sight of their purpose, which is to provide safe and effective care for patients that is inclusive of the perspectives of the patient and those who will render care once the patient returns home.”
Dr. Bellucci has sound advice for anyone considering pursing the nursing field: invest in yourself.
“Achieving a bachelor’s and/or a master’s degree in nursing is an investment in you as a nursing professional,” she said.” Seek opportunities in your workplaces to secure tuition reimbursement and scholarships to advance your education and invest in your future. Consider each course and the time you take to work through it as an appointment you are making to improve and enrich yourself.”
To learn more about CSU’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences visit our website.
Disclaimer: These testimonials may not reflect the experience of all CSU students.
Multiple factors, including prior experience, geography, and degree field, affect career outcomes.
CSU does not guarantee a job, promotion, salary increase, eligibility for a position, or other career growth.
