NLN Elects New National Leadership

NLN Elects New National Leadership

Recognizing Historic Firsts for NLN Chair & NLN Chair-Elect

Washington, DC – The National League for Nursing announces the results of a history-making 2025 election cycle. Yolanda VanRiel, PhD, RN, MEDSURG-BC, OCN, CNE, ANEF, now serves as the new NLN Chair, and the first NLN Chair to represent a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). The new NLN Chair-Elect, Paul Smith, PhD, RN, CNE, is the first man elected to the post in the League’s history.

During this year’s NLN Board of Governors election, League members elected Martha Scheckel, PhD, RN, CNE, as secretary and Voncella McCleary-Jones, PhD, RN-BC, CNE, ANEF, FAAN, as governor-at-large to succeed those who have completed their board terms this year. The newly elected officer and governor will serve through 2028.

The elections also added new members to the League’s Nominations Committee and the NLN Certification Commission, with everyone installed in their posts during the Annual Business Meeting at the NLN Education Summit in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. VanRiel is chair of the Department of Nursing at North Carolina Central University, an HBCU, in Durham, North Carolina, and patient placement coordinator at First Health of the Carolinas-Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Dr. Smith is a professor and dean of the Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing at Linfield University in Gresham, Oregon. The remaining officer, Treasurer Mark Hand, PhD, RN, CNE, and other governors-at-large will continue to serve through the end of their terms.

Dr. VanRiel said, “Colleagues, I am honored to take office as NLN Chair. As nursing and nursing education confront the most pressing challenges of our time, we are also engaged in an era of tremendous opportunity and possibility. With exciting new technologies like artificial intelligence at our disposal, we may maximize student learning and broaden access to outstanding, inclusive patient care. I look forward to engaging with this extraordinary professional association to build on our vision of the future and help craft and nurture the programs, initiatives, and resources of the National League for Nursing to achieve it.”

NLN President and CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, welcomed Dr. VanRiel to the post of NLN Chair, along with the new NLN Chair-Elect, Dr. Smith, Secretary Scheckel, Governor at-Large McCleary-Jones, and the new Certification Commissioners and Nominations Committee member, saying, “We are deeply indebted to these remarkable individuals for dedicating their personal time to serve the National League for Nursing. They generously bring their wealth of experience, as well as a tireless work ethic, to support and enhance our multi-faceted programs and activities in countless ways. I have known and worked with Dr. VanRiel for the past two years and I know of the depth of her contributions and commitment to nursing and nursing education. I look forward to the next two years of her leadership.”

About NLN Chair Yolanda VanRiel, PhD, RN, MEDSURG-BC, OCN, CNE, ANEF
Chair, Department of Nursing at North Carolina Central University and Patient Placement Coordinator, First Health of the Carolinas-Moore Regional Hospital
Durham and Pinehurst, North Carolina

Dr. Yolanda VanRiel has 30 years of nursing experience, including two decades as a nurse educator. The author of numerous presentations, publications and grants, Dr. VanRiel has focused her scholarship on nursing education, provider-patient communications, health disparities, and oncology. Her achievements have been recognized with professional accolades, among them the Richmond Community College Outstanding Alumni Award, NCNA Nurse Educator of the Year Award, Gamma Zeta Chapter STTI Excellence in Nursing Education Award, and the UNC-Greensboro School of Nursing Teaching Excellence Award.

A fellow in the NLN Academy of Nursing Education, Dr. VanRiel is a certified nurse educator (CNE®), with additional certifications in oncology and medical-surgical nursing. Along with the National League for Nursing and the North Carolina League for Nursing, Dr. VanRiel holds memberships in the American Nurses Association; Oncology Nursing Society; and the Gamma Zeta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International. She also has served as vice chair of the North Carolina Board of Nursing.

About NLN Chair-Elect Paul Smith, PhD, RN, CNE 
Dean and Professor, Linfield University School of Nursing
Portland, Oregon

Dean of the Linfield University School of Nursing since 2022, Paul Smith began there as a clinical adjunct professor in 2007, simultaneously teaching on the nursing faculty at nearby Chemeketa Community College. In 2018, Dr. Smith was promoted by Linfield to tenured associate professor and named the school’s associate dean. Four years later, now a full professor, his promotion to dean was made as a permanent lifetime appointment. Throughout his long history at Linfield, he has been a visible presence, serving in key leadership roles across campus, including as interim dean and faculty advisor to the Linfield Student Nurses’ Association, and a professor and student mentor in both BSN and RN-to-BSN programs.

Dr. Smith earned his associate degree from Southern Union State Community College, Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Phoenix, a master’s degree in community/public health and nursing education from Washington State University, and his doctorate from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Smith has been an active member of the National League for Nursing, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, SIGMA and Western Institute of Nursing Research. Prior roles at the League include election in 2017 to commissioner on the NLN Certification Commission and in 2013, his selection, through competitive application, to the NLN LEAD program for emerging leaders in nursing education.

About Secretary Martha Scheckel, PhD, RN, CNE
Vice Dean and Director of the Center for Future Faculty, Conway School of Nursing, Catholic University of America
Washington, DC

Martha Scheckel, PhD, RN, CNE, is vice dean and the director of the Center for Future Faculty in the Conway School of Nursing at the Catholic University of America where she oversees academic programs ranging from the baccalaureate to the doctoral level, as well as professional programs. She is internationally and nationally recognized for her transformative research and leadership in advancing the science of nursing education. Dr. Scheckel was invited to serve on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Task Force to revise the “Essentials” series, resulting in the new The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education. She completed the foundational literature review for Nurse Educator Competencies: Creating an Evidence-Based Practice for Nurse Educators (2005) and, through invitation, contributed to NLN Core Competencies for Nurse Educators: A Decade of Influence.

Dr. Scheckel has served as the chief nursing administrator at two universities: founding director of nursing and professor, University of St. Thomas, Morrison Family College of Health, Susan S. Morrison School of Nursing in St. Paul, Minnesota, and dean and professor, Viterbo University, College of Nursing, Health and Human Behavior in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Her experience in leadership at two Catholic Universities and her commitment to nursing education, grounded in faith with respect for the dignity of the human person, guide her current leadership.

About Governor-at-Large Voncella McCleary-Jones, PhD, RN, MEDSURG-BC, CNE, ANEF, FAAN
Professor and Associate Dean of Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs, College of Health Professions, Wichita State University
Wichita, Kansas

Dr. McCleary-Jones is professor and associate dean of academic, faculty and student affairs in the College of Health Professions at Wichita State University where she directs academic affairs in the college and is the immediate past chair of its School of Nursing. Her academic leadership experience includes roles as director of the Master’s in Nursing Education Program and interim assistant dean for educational excellence in the College of Nursing at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She has been a registered nurse for 40 years and a nurse educator for 30 years.

Dr. McCleary-Jones holds a PhD in Adult and Higher Education Administration from the University of Oklahoma and is an expert in curriculum design and pedagogy. Her funded research and scholarship focus includes health literacy, minority health, and nursing education. She is a Harvard Macy Scholar and a Fellow of both the American Academy of Nursing and the NLN Academy of Nursing Education. Her professional service includes vice president of the Association of Black Nursing Faculty, NLN ANEF Review Panel, AACN Professional Development Conference Planning Subcommittee, and NLN Nominations Committee. She also serves as an advisory board member for the Health Equity Influencers Program (HEIP) at Mercy University School of Nursing in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

Nominations Committee Election (3-year term: 2025-2028)

• Lisa Scandale Lewis, EdD, MSN, RN, CNE, associate clinical professor, Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, North Carolina
  

The Nominations Committee solicits nominations from individual and agency representative members for all League elected positions reflecting the organization’s diverse membership and identifies a slate of candidates that best support the mission of the League.

Certification Commission Election (3-year term: 2025-2028)

• Sonique Sailsman, PhD, RN, CNE, assistant professor, Mercer University, Georgia Baptist College of Nursing in Atlanta, Georgia
• Adrian Stamps, PhD, RN, CNE, associate professor and accelerated BSN curriculum director, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, School of Nursing in Odessa, Texas
  

The Certification Commission oversees and supervises the NLN Academic Nurse Educator Certification Program. For more information, visit NLN.org.

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