Member Spotlight
This month, we’re proud to spotlight The Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing at Mercy College of Health Sciences and honor the meaningful impact they continue to make throughout the state.
Since 1899, Mercy College has been shaping students into skilled and compassionate healthcare professionals. For 125 years, they've remained committed to strengthening their foundation as a Catholic, accredited, nonprofit institution of higher learning. Guided by faith and a dedication to excellence in health sciences education, they’ve continued to grow and evolve their academic programs to meet the increasing demands of Iowa’s healthcare workforce.
Students choose Mercy College because they believe in the college's mission to prepare future healthcare leaders, and they stay because faculty and staff believe in their potential.
Within the Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing, the curriculum and hands‑on learning experiences have advanced significantly since their earliest days. Located in Des Moines, the School prepares graduates for service and leadership by integrating core values with a strong professional and liberal arts education. Its commitment to experiential learning, academic rigor, and community engagement reflects the very qualities we celebrate across the ILN network.
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Community Matters
Breast Cancer Awareness Party in honor of Professor Knoll, pictured center, with nursing students.
A team of leaders from the Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing and MercyOne has begun planning to implement dedicated education units (DEU) at MercyOne in Fall 2026. The DEU is an innovative clinical learning model where academic faculty and nursing staff, who are jointly appointed as nursing faculty, collaborate to provide high-quality experiential learning opportunities for students. Because students complete a majority of their clinical learning experiences on a DEU, their onboarding to the facility is seamless, they are more likely to remain at the facility, and student and staff satisfaction are improved.
Through this intentional and strategic collaboration between the Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing and MercyOne, the DEU will serve as a model for healthcare innovation and transformation while addressing nursing workforce needs in Iowa and beyond.
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College Events
Beginning in Fall 2025, the Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing (JELSON) launched its NCLEX Success Strategy to holistically prepare and support students to successfully pass the NCLEX. The strategy takes a multi-phased approach to student support led by the Lead ATI Champion, the NCLEX Specialist, and the Deans’ Leadership Team.
The NCLEX Success Strategy promotes a culture of NCLEX success through analyzing assessment data, developing personalized remediation strategies to bridge content knowledge gaps, coaching students academically upon entry into their prelicensure semesters and through to NCLEX testing, and by using interactive strategies such as unfolding cases and gamification (e.g. Murder Mystery; Amazing Race) to enhance and bolster learning.
Click to find out about the nursing programs offered: HERE
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Scholarly Advances
Dr. Vincent Salyers, EdD, RN, FAAN, ANEF, FNAP, dean of the Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing
Recent scholarly contributions from members of The Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing at Mercy College of Health Sciences include two new publications authored by Dr. Vincent Salyers, an exciting achievement for the academic community.
Congratulations, Dr. Salyers!
Wagner, T., Salyers, V., Nguyen, B., Sudia, T., Taylor, T., Winkfield, D., Coletti, N., Chew, F., Barreca, J., & Mansfield, S. (2025). Interprofessional perspective: Development of the National Academies of Practice joint health literacy position statement. HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice (accepted, in press).
Salyers, V., Wagner, T., Sudia, T., Chew, F., Colletti, N., Barreca, J., Taylor, K., & Manspeak, S. (2025, May). The National Academies of Practice Joint Health Literacy Position Statement. Lexington, KY: National Academies of Practice.
Available online at:
NAP Health Literacy Statement - FINAL May 2025.pdf
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Collaboration is Key
In December of 2023, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was established between Des Moines University (DMU) Osteopathic Medical Center, Des Moines Public Schools, Des Moines Area Community College, Mercy College of Health Sciences, and the Polk County Board of Supervisors. The intent of the MOU was to develop a regional simulation center to be located at Des Moines University, 3200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa. DMU’s state-of-the-art simulation center spans approximately 24,000 square feet and includes a range of specialized training environments including: high-fidelity simulation spaces, an Adams Task Training Lab, virtual and augmented reality, Rakowski Surgical Skills Lab and Wojciechowski Trauma Lab, a Home Care Lab, clinical examination rooms, standardized patients, and advanced ultrasound training.
All Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing prelicensure nursing students began skills development and simulation-based learning in collaboration with the DMU regional simulation center in January 2026. This will provide our students with additional experiential learning opportunities to develop competencies and skills required to care for today’s complex patient populations and for the provision of better patient outcomes. More information regarding the DMU regional simulation center can be found at: https://www.dmu.edu/simulation-center/.
Additional Recognition
In 2025, Mercy College launched the public phase of the most ambitious fundraising effort the College has ever undertaken in its 125-year history: a $15 million Legacy of Faith Campaign to build an innovative facility dedicated to state-of-the-art nursing simulation and teaching-learning spaces.
The Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing will honor Joyce’s distinguished 47-year nursing career even as it inspires the future careers of student nurses who walk across Mercy College’s campus every day. The Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing is a two-story, 24,000 square foot that will replace the currently unused Building 2 on Mercy College’s downtown Des Moines, Iowa, campus.
The new school will support Mercy College’s most in-demand educational offering – nursing – with purposefully designed experiential teaching-learning spaces outfitted with state-of-the art simulation suites, skills labs and technology. Additional information about the Legacy of Faith Campaign and Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing (JESLON) can be found at https://www.mchs.edu/about/about-us/joyce-e-lillis-school-of-nursing-capital-campaign/
A blessed beginning for the Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing! Burial of the St. Benedict Medal, a meaningful Catholic tradition that blesses the land, the building, and the people who will use it. St. Benedict is known as the patron saint of students.
Educator Spotlight:
Dr. Vincent Salyers has been nominated as a SPOTLIGHT EDUCATOR for the Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing.
Dr. Salyers began his career as an acute care nurse and has spent nearly three decades shaping nursing and healthcare through his professional and academic leadership. He has held senior administrative and academic roles across Canada and the United States, guiding curriculum and program development, advancing teaching and learning innovation, supporting research and scholarship, and leading strategic initiatives in recruitment, community engagement, and faculty advancement.
He has also led interdisciplinary teams in global projects serving underserved populations. His scholarship explores the intersections of technology, curriculum design, clinical practice, and interprofessional education. Dr. Salyers has co‑developed educational programs, international partnerships, and health‑focused initiatives in more than ten countries, all aimed at improving outcomes and reducing global health inequities. His work—reflected in 26 peer‑reviewed publications, 60 regional, national, and international presentations, and more than $7 million in funding—demonstrates a deep commitment to advancing interprofessional education and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
In recognition of his sustained contributions, Dr. Salyers has been inducted as a Fellow in the Academy of Nursing Education (ANEF), the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), and as a Distinguished Fellow in the National Academies of Practice – Nursing (FNAP).
Educator Spotlight:
Dr. Ashley Hoff has been recognized as a SPOTLIGHT EDUCATOR for The Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing. Dr. Hoff evaluated a formal mentorship program for novice nursing faculty and its impact on faculty retention.
Dr. Hoff is a natural servant leader who cares deeply about supporting new and novice faculty as they transition from practice to faculty roles. Her DNP project work has led to the development of a robust new faculty onboarding/orientation program for which she hopes to further evaluate program effectiveness and establish faculty onboarding best practices. Her works positions the Joyce E. Lillis School of Nursing to recruit and retain highly qualified nursing faculty as the result of her scholarship.
Educator Spotlight:
The next SPOTLIGHT EDUCATOR is Dr. Alexandra McManus.
Dr. McManus’ DNP project underscored the critical need to better support newly graduated registered nurses who may lack the clinical reasoning and judgment required to respond effectively to rapidly changing patient conditions. Her work explored the issue of Failure to Rescue (FTR), in which new nurses may struggle to recognize and act on signs of acute deterioration in time to prevent adverse outcomes.
Deeply committed to student success in prelicensure programs, Dr. McManus designed an evidence‑based project focused on strategies to strengthen clinical judgment and improve early recognition of patient decline—ultimately aiming to reduce FTR events. Her scholarship is already shaping meaningful curriculum discussions that will better prepare students and new graduates to deliver safe, high‑quality care and improve patient outcomes.
Educator Spotlight:
Our next SPOTLIGHT EDUCATOR nominee is Kate Lester.
While brainstorming active learning strategies, Professor Lester drew inspiration from the television show The Amazing Race, where teams travel the world completing challenges. Using this concept, she created an engaging gamified learning experience—also called The Amazing Race—to help students prepare for their final exam and skills check‑off.
In this activity, teams of nursing students receive clues that lead them to various locations across campus. At each stop, a staff or faculty member guides them through a worksheet or task tied to course content. Once completed, the team receives a letter and their next clue.
By the end of the race, students collect letters that spell a final word, and the first team to complete all stations correctly wins.
Students consistently share positive feedback, noting how interactive, enjoyable, and academically helpful the experience is. This innovative approach embraces active and experiential learning best practices, boosting engagement and strengthening knowledge retention.
Professor Lester is a dedicated nurse educator who cares deeply about student success and progression. She works tirelessly to inspire students to become the most capable, confident nurses they can be and supports them wholeheartedly as they pursue their goals.
Educator Spotlight:
Last but certainly not least, we honor our SPOTLIGHT EDUCATOR, Christa Knoll‑Drobny.
When Professor Knoll joined the faculty in 2023, she quickly realized traditional lectures weren’t enough to keep students fully engaged. Drawing on her creativity, she redesigned her classroom into an active, collaborative learning environment.
Her first major success was the card game Nurse Wars. Building on that momentum, she created a Murder Mystery–themed final exam review where each student received a character dossier, followed clues tied to course content, and competed to identify the “killer.” The activity was fun, immersive, and—most importantly—led to stronger exam performance. Students left each review more confident, more accountable, and genuinely excited about learning.
Professor Knoll is an innovative and highly respected educator who consistently goes above and beyond to prepare future nurses with the knowledge, skills, and competencies they need. Her commitment to enhancing the student experience and making a meaningful impact is evident in everything she does.
