“It’s always surprising when someone wants to interview you, because it’s like, I just do my job, I didn’t think of it being anything phenomenal it’s just what I expect professors to do,” Professor Linda Howe said.
Despite what Howe may think, she went above and beyond her teaching abilities, which landed her the honor of being inducted as a fellow into the National League for Nursing Academy of Nursing Education in early October.
Professor Howe was one of 29 professors inducted, all representing various nursing schools and programs through the United States.
The National League of Nursing established the Academy of Nursing Education in 2007 to help recognize and honor those nursing professors who have made a significant contribution towards nursing education.
Howe contributed with the creation of The Village, a unique case-based approach to teaching pharmacology that engages students, increases understanding of content and encourages self-discovery.
The Village is now being used in more than 70 schools in the U.S.
Professor Howe said it all started when she went to Germany.
“I was teaching pharmacology and I knew the students were having difficulties with this; it’s like learning a foreign language and you have nothing to attach it to. Pharm is a very different subject and it is voluminous. So I was concerned about my students, we went to Germany and we went to all these lovely villages, and all of the little stories going on and I said to my husband, it takes a village to teach pharm! So I started in the summer of 2005 when I wasn’t even teaching and I came home and started writing it and I worked all summer on it in order to use it in the fall. And I did more and more of them until I had a product to sell,” Howe said.
The Village continues to be a huge success for Howe as she uses it with students here at the University of Central Florida.
In addition to her program Howe has also started two scholarships, one here at UCF in honor of her late daughter called the Elizabeth Marie Howe Memorial Endowed Nursing Scholarship with her husband Brian.
“I was pregnant four times, and I have one living child, so Elizabeth was my last pregnancy. I had lost a baby in a car accident, had my son, and then lost another baby, and then got pregnant with Elizabeth. She came a little early, she was very small, and she had a heart defect called tetralogy of fallot, which means she had four defects in her tiny little heart. When she died, I always felt all there is, is a heart marker with her name and her birthday and death day on it with a vase for flowers, that’s all she has. And when people ask me how many children do you have, I say one because I don’t want to explain that she died. And so I thought she needs to be remembered, and so I thought why not have a scholarship where her name will live forever.”
The scholarship is given out once a year to a student and the only special requirements other than a 3.0 GPA is that the student should be a member of the Student Nurses Association and wants a career in a neonatal intensive-care unit, or NICU, which is where Elizabeth stayed in the hospital.
In addition to this scholarship, Professor Howe also started a scholarship fund in honor of her former student from Clemson University who passed away in a car accident. Professor Howe keeps a photo of her late student named Hunter taped to the doorway of her office.
Along with her recent honor, Professor Howe will continue to serve as president-elect of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing: Theta Epsilon Chapter, and is a member of the editorial board for Nursing Education Perspectives.
It’s safe to say that Professor Howe will continue to do great things here at UCF and make her family proud, especially Elizabeth.
Photo provided to KnightNews.com by Linda Howe
