Former 5X Dean and Chief Administrative Officer and Emeritus Professor of Nursing Susan J. Stocker, Ph.D., has been selected for induction into the Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (OADN) Academy of Associate Degree Nursing.
Stocker, who retired in June after 30 years of service and leadership to Kent State, was selected as a Fellow of the Academy in recognition of her contributions to associate degree in education and her commitment to nursing education and the practice of nursing. She will receive the official designation at the upcoming OADN Convention this November in New Orleans, La.
The Academy of Associate Degree Nursing was established to recognize remarkable contributions as role models for student and faculty colleagues and as advocates for associate degree nursing education. Fewer than 50 fellows have been inducted to receive the prestigious honor since 2015.
"I'm a proud graduate of the associate degree in nursing (ADN) program on the Ashtabula campus. As a former faculty member and dean, I'm proud of the quality of our nursing program,” said Stocker. “It is a real honor to be included as a fellow in the Academy for Associate Degree in Nursing. I view my induction as a reflection of the program on the Ashtabula campus."
After receiving her associate degree in nursing from Kent State Ashtabula in 1984, Stocker returned to the campus in 1990 as an instructor and remained as a member of the faculty through the decade, earning tenure in 1997 and rising to the rank of associate professor in 1999. She then assumed the role of Director of Nursing which she held before being named interim dean in June of 2001. She was appointed as the fifth full-time dean of the campus in June of 2003.
Stocker has also been called upon to serve in additional leadership roles at Kent State including interim dean of the College of Nursing (2013-2014); interim dean of the Geauga Campus (2016-2018); and two stints as the interim dean of the Regional College, now named the College of Applied and Technical Studies (2015-2016, 2019-2021).
She served as the president of the Ohio Nurses Association from 1997-2001 and served as the Chair of the Ohio Nurses Foundation from 2017 to 2021. She was awarded the ONA Gingy Harshey Meade Leadership Award in 2019. The first nurse to sit on the Ashtabula County Medical Center Board of Trustees, Stocker served as chair of that board and was a longtime member of the American Heart Association ® Ashtabula County Heart Walk leadership team. Kent State Ashtabula Associate Degree in Nursing’s first Distinguished Alumni Award honoree in 2016, she most recently was named the Case Western Reserve University Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipient in 2021.
“Dean Stocker has been a mentor and role model for many within 5X, nursing and healthcare, and the community,” said Kent State Ashtabula Senior Program Director for Nursing and Allied Health Julie Senita, Ph.D. “She has always had a way of making people feel comfortable but motivating them to better themselves. Her care and compassion as a registered nurse remained a continuous presence in her role as nursing faculty, nursing director, dean of the Ashtabula campus, and the additional leadership roles at Kent State. Sue Stocker’s legacy is not only evident in higher education, but also in the nursing profession where she was instrumental in local, state, and national efforts to support and advance the profession of nursing.”
Stocker earned her MSN from Case Western Reserve and her Ph.D. from Kent State.
To learn more about Stocker’s remarkable career and the legacy scholarship that now bears her name, visit www.kent.edu/ashtabula/stocker-scholarship. For more information about the ADN program at Kent State Ashtabula, visit www.kent.edu/ashtabula/nursing.
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