January 16, 2024
Management major Jillian Waugh ’04 returns to Providence College to teach nursing
By Ealish Brawley ’14
As the Providence College School of Nursing and Health Sciences welcomed its inaugural class of 50 nursing students in August 2023, it also welcomed back Jillian Connolly Waugh, RN, MSN ’04 to serve on its faculty.
Waugh, who studied management at PC, shifted her interest to nursing after graduation, completed an accelerated nursing program at Curry College, and has experience as a bedside nurse, nurse preceptor, and nursing instructor. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from St. Joseph College and is completing a doctor of nursing practice degree through Regis College.
“Being able to be in this role and guide students’ interest in becoming nurses feels like a gift,” said Waugh, one of the first faculty members hired to teach at PC. She is a clinical assistant professor of nursing.
When Waugh was a high school student in Milton, Massachusetts, looking at colleges, she considered nursing as a course of study, but fell in love with PC and decided to enroll even though nursing wasn’t offered. While initially interested in the college due to its reputation for academic excellence, Waugh found herself equally impressed by how every student she met on campus expressed a love for the college and encouraged her to apply.
As a student and now as a faculty member, Waugh loves how PC has a big college feel with its location in a vibrant city and its strong sports programs, but has a contained campus where students enjoy small class sizes and get to know their professors.
Although Waugh did not study nursing as an undergraduate, she believes her years at PC provided a strong foundation for her successful career.
“I don’t regret the little bit of a detour,” she joked.
Her studies in management gave her the skills to direct trainees as a nurse preceptor and manage a classroom full of students as a nursing instructor. The college’s liberal arts curriculum, especially the Development of Western Civilization Program, developed her critical thinking skills. There always have been students at the college drawn to healthcare careers, she said. In her graduating class, at least five others became nurses.
While she enjoyed her management classes, Waugh did not feel excited to enter the world of business after graduation.
“I wanted to do something more tangible to make a difference in people’s lives,” she said.
That was when her interest in nursing resurfaced. She applied to a 16-month, accelerated nursing program at Curry and graduated in 2006. After spending several years as a bedside nurse and nurse preceptor, Waugh decided to become a full-time nursing educator in 2013. She completed a master of science in nursing degree at St. Joseph’s College in 2020 and is working toward her doctorate with an expected completion next year. She has recently returned to bedside nursing on a per diem basis because she misses the patient contact and wishes to stay current in her profession.
Waugh is enjoying her return to PC as a nursing educator in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. She is glad that students who are drawn to PC for its reputation for academic excellence and its education in the liberal arts will be able to prepare for a career in healthcare. Along with her colleagues, she is committed to developing a strong program of study.
“The incorporation of the liberal arts foundation into courses is what sets us apart,” Waugh said.
PC integrates liberal arts with the health sciences, with a focus on community and public health, as well as the health of the patient as an individual.
Waugh applied for a C.S. Lewis Fellowship Grant from PC’s Humanities Program to purchase copies of Lewis’s book, A Grief Observed, for students in her Introduction to Professional Nursing course. A Grief Observed was written by Lewis following his wife’s death from cancer, which challenged his strong Christian faith. Waugh plans to use the text to inform her teaching unit on end-of-life care, fostering discussion with her students about the role of faith and spirituality in grieving and how nurses can walk with patients and their families.
Waugh takes a rigorous and active approach to learning in her classroom. She believes that nursing students need to learn theory not just to know theory, but to apply it to the care of patients. She rarely lectures. Instead, students prepare by completing the assigned readings and exercises and come to class ready to apply the information through case studies, simulations, and games.
Another focus of Waugh’s instruction is preparing her students for the challenges of modern nursing. Staffing shortages, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Baby Boomer generation of nurses nearing retirement age, are placing a heavy burden on remaining nurses. Waugh’s goal is to prepare healthy and resilient nurses for practice by teaching them what they can do to prevent burnout, how to recognize the signs of burnout in themselves and their coworkers, and how to advocate for themselves and their patients in order to correct the situation.
Waugh is excited to see what the inaugural class of 100 nursing students, a group of high achievers who are interested in global health and service work, will accomplish at PC and in their careers. They take classes now in renovated space in the Feinstein Academic Center. In January 2025, they will move into the Ben Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences, under construction on the previous location of Fennell Hall.
