Susan L. Prather, EdD, RN, an associate professor of clinical at the School of Nursing and Health Studies, is one of two faculty awarded the University of Miami Excellence in Civic Engagement Faculty Award for 2019. She was among those honored during the Butler Center for Service & Leadership’s annual Celebration of Involvement, held April 16.
The award is sponsored by the UM Office of Civic and Community Engagement and recognizes faculty members who engage UM students with the community through academic service-learning courses and community-based research. Winners are chosen from a highly competitive, university-wide pool of applicants reviewed by a selection committee comprised of past award winners and partners to the Office of Civic and Community Engagement.
Dr. Prather works with Camillus House, a comprehensive center addressing the needs of the poor and homeless in the City of Miami, to facilitate service-learning experiences for students taking her Public Health Nursing course. These experiences “have helped students better understand their own positionality and instilled in them an awareness of their professional and social responsibilities toward the communities in which they work,” said Robin Bachin, PhD, UM’s assistant provost for civic and community engagement, during the award ceremony.
Dr. Prather believes civic engagement and community-based teaching and research “must be addressed in a unified approach to advance student learning and create minds that will be successful in navigating the challenges of the 21st century.”
Cynthia Foronda, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, ANEF, SONHS associate professor of clinical, describes Dr. Prather as “a role model of local and international service and civic engagement” whose courses impart “an understanding of responsibility, privilege, and key values like cultural humility in students entering the altruistic profession of nursing.”
