Stephanie Sideras, PhD, RN Instructor, School of Nursing & Health Innovations

From an early age, nursing and education have played a large role in Stephanie Sideras’s path. The child of teachers, she worked at a neurosurgeon’s office in high school to pay for college and was struck by the independent nature of the nurse who worked there.  “She made the career sound exciting and rewarding and dynamic,” she said. During her baccalaureate and master’s programs at St. Louis University, she worked in a variety of critical care settings, including cardiovascular, neurological, post-surgical recovery, and briefly as a flight nurse. She received her PhD from Oregon Health and Science University and decided that it was time to pivot to education.

 “When I thought about how I could really impact patient outcomes, I decided that education was the best way to do it,” she says. Her focus on simulation in nursing education is what brought her to UP in 2020: “UP’s School of Nursing and Health Innovations has one of the most impressive Sim labs in the Northwest, if not the nation, and the opportunity to implement and engage in a simulation program wasn’t available at other institutions,” she says. And while starting a new teaching role in the midst of a global pandemic was far from ideal, she credits her fellow SONHI faculty for welcoming her and bringing her into the fold. “They made what could have been awful bearable,” she says.

In her time at UP, she has dedicated herself to developing students and faculty alike on simulation methodologies and education, a practice that she has taken to other colleges across the country as they implement their own simulation programs. Another point of pride comes whenever she encounters a SONHI alumni in a hospital setting—“it’s always kind of a relief to look up and see one of my former students providing care,” she says. “That’s been oddly rewarding. The fact that I’m a part of the process, the magnitude of the impact you have on the profession because of what we’re able to do as faculty, is really special.”

A far as plans in retirement goes, she’s keeping her options open. “I’m carefully not making plans,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to not having a big to-do list in my life!” Currently, she’s weighing choices for future travel plans and thinking about adding a dog to the family.