The Georgia Association for Nursing Education (GANE) recently named the University of West Georgia’s Dr. Kelly Dyar as its president. Dyar currently serves as a professor and faculty lead for the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) nurse educator program at the Tanner Health System School of Nursing at UWG.

Dyar said she is honored to be in the leadership role and feels that the beliefs and goals of the organization are perfectly aligned with her own personal ideals. 

“It is an incredible honor to be elected to serve in this capacity,” she said. “I believe I need to encourage and support my students in achieving excellence, and I need to strive for excellence in my teaching practice and support my faculty colleagues by encouraging them to be excellent teachers. It is a natural extension of this for me to lead this organization in achieving its purpose.” 

The purpose of GANE is to promote excellence in nursing education within Georgia by accessing needs of Georgia nurse educators, nurses and Georgia’s citizenry, and to meet those needs through participation and collaboration. 

Dyar has been a member of GANE for several years, having joined while she was working on her master's degree. She was nominated for her current role by two colleagues within the organization. 

“Both the nominations and the election by the members is such a display of their confidence in what I can bring to GANE and their faith in how I can lead over the next two years,” Dyar said. “This position offers me an opportunity to influence the organization and help us continue to grow as we support nurse educators within the state.” 

Dyar said one of the best parts of being in her new position is demonstrating to her students the level of dedication she has to the profession. She hopes it will help inspire them to reach their full potential. 

“This role will demonstrate my commitment to professional service but also show my students that I am practicing what I ask of them in encouraging them to meet these competencies,” Dyar said. “I think it also will demonstrate that they, too, one day can take an active role in a nursing organization, perhaps even as an elected board member or president of the organization.” 

Her new role further benefits students as she is able to be an advocate for them within the organization. Each year, GANE hosts a conference in which nursing students submit abstracts that go through a competitive review process to determine the students who will be included in the program. 

“In this role, I can keep students informed about this process,” she said. “One tangible thing I have done already is establish a process where students can submit their capstone projects to be included in the conference program. Currently, we offer a discount for students; however, they usually submit their capstone projects following their graduation, which means they no longer qualify for the student discount. Through the process I created, they can still get the student discount for 12 months following their graduation if they are presenting on anything they did as a student.”

Dyar said, overall, the most important part of her work with GANE is making sure students have the tools they need to be successful. 

“One way to help promote excellence in nursing education is by being a voice for students and ensuring that the organization maintains rigor in our educational offerings,” Dyar said. “I look forward to further engaging in that work.”