Georgia Nursing Workforce Center
On This Page
Who We Are
The Georgia Nursing Workforce Center (GNWC) is dedicated to addressing nursing workforce challenges and opportunities in Georgia. In collaboration with the Georgia Nursing Leadership Coalition, the GNWC is housed at the Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
The center researches and addresses issues of supply and demand for nursing in Georgia, including retention, recruitment, educational capacity, and the distribution of nursing workforce resources. It includes health care organizations, business partners, state leaders, universities, colleges, and community-based organizations and the recognized state representative for Georgia at the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers.
Our Why
Solving a Need
Strategic Priorities
This priority looks at the production of nurses in the state by monitoring trends in nursing program enrollment and graduations and considers the characteristics of nursing schools—including students and faculty; also explores challenges, opportunities, and equity barriers to entering and to academic progression in nursing programs, as well as, the value and impact of these programs once nurses are in practice.
This priority examines personal and professional characteristics of the workforce, including geographic distribution, settings, specialties, roles, educational preparation, and compensation; also considers mobility of the workforce.
This priority attends to workforce safety, well-being, and sense of professional mattering—adding value and being valued, and considers retention within the workforce, the profession, and the state, as well as the importance of meaningful recognition of nurses and their ability to do meaningful work.
Our Mission, Vision, and Values
Where We're Aiming
Using data and community building to tell and <i>actively shape</i> the story of nursing in Georgia.
A sustainable Georgia nursing workforce, with a strong sense of professional mattering.
The values of the Georgia Nursing Workforce Center describe the core of who we are and how we work, with the below value statements defining and offering context for each value.
- Joy fosters an environment of gratitude, enthusiasm, and celebration, promoting resilience and well-being. Recognizing the profound impact of joy on personal and professional fulfillment, a positive disposition brings light and supports meaning in doing the work and impacting the community.
- Equity-minded collaboration reflects our recognizing the need for diverse perspectives; always questioning if and which voices are missing and actively seeking their inclusion. We cultivate partnerships rooted in mutual respect and shared purpose. To tell and actively shape the story of nursing in Georgia, we need to understand it with data and from a shared space with plurality of thought, leveraging diverse ways of knowing.
- Curiosity embraces a spirit of inquiry and innovation, maintaining a healthy dose of intellectual humility. Challenges are met with an open mind and a relentless pursuit of knowledge. Our curiosity drives us to ask critical questions, seek diverse perspectives, and explore creative approaches to advance nursing in Georgia.
- Integrity in our work being data and evidence informed and in honoring the lived experiences of nurses and nursing students across Georgia through and in our work.
- Presence reflects our commitment to being fully engaged and attentive in every interaction, valuing the power of connection and listening deeply to understand and meet the needs of nurses, nursing students, and the communities they serve.
History and Timeline
About the Georgia Nursing Leadership Coalition
The Georgia Nursing Leadership Coalition was created in 2011 to kick off the Campaign for Action in Georgia, an unprecedented initiative to transform the nursing workforce to meet the health care challenges that confront Georgia. This summit was part of the national Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action initiative launched in November 2010 by RWJF to guide the implementation of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Future of Nursing report.
GNLC Executive Committee Members
- Rebecca Wheeler: GNLC Coordinator; Risk Manager, Northside Hospital
- Laura Colbert: Executive Director, Georgians for a Healthy Future
- Lisa Wright Eichelberger: Dean Emerita, Clayton State University
- Valencia Fleming: United Healthcare
- Chelsea Hagopian: Executive Director, Georgia Nursing Workforce Center
- Linda A. McCauley: Dean, Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
- Desiree Clement: Emory University GNLC Liason; Associate Professor, Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
Our People
Meet the Team
Chelsea Hagopian
DNP, APRN, AGACNP-BC
Chelsea O. P. Hagopian is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and an ANCC board-certified adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner.
- Julie Zadinsky, PhD, MSS, RN, CIP, Chair, GNWC Advisory Board, Professor, College of Nursing; Director, PhD in Nursing Program; Director, Center for Nursing Research; Interim Chair, Department of Nursing Science, Augusta University College of Nursing
- Blake McGee, PhD, MPH, RN, Immediate Past Chair, GNWC Advisory Board, Associate Professor of Nursing, Augusta University College of Nursing
- Sharon Pappas, PhD, RN, FAAN, Chief Nurse Executive, Emory Healthcare
- Stevan Van Hook, MSN, RN, Nursing Education Consultant, Georgia Board of Nursing
- Linda McCauley, PhD, RN, Former Dean and Professor, Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
- Lisa Eichelberger, PhD, RN, Dean Emerita, College of Health, Clayton State University
- Omid Razmpour, PhD, MBA, RN, System Workforce Consultant and Adjunct Professor, Emory Healthcare and Emory University
- Keri Conley, JD
- Matt Caseman, CEO, Georgia Nurses Association
- Carolyn Clevenger, DNP, GNP-BC, FAANP, FGSA, FAAN, Founding Dean, Victoria Kay Ivester School of Nursing, University of Georgia
- Monique Bouvier, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC, Corporate Director of Nursing Science and Assistant Professor, Emory Healthcare and Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing,
- Jeannie Cimiotti, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Professor, Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
- Shawn Little, DNP, Associate Vice Chancellor Healthcare Education, University System of Georgia
- Jackie Nikpour, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
- Tammy Bryant, MSN, RN, Director of Health Care Initiatives, Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) and Past-President of the Georgia Board of Nursing
- Yin Li, PhD, Assistant Professor, Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
- Imelda Reyes, DNP, MPH, APRN, FAANP, Dean of Nursing and Professor, University of West Georgia Tanner Health School of Nursing
- Desiree Clement, DNP, CNM, FNP-BC, FACNM, FAANP, FAAN, Assistant Dean for Academic Operations & Associate Professor, Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing,
- Michelle A. Nelson, PhD, MBA, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, FNAP, FADLN, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, and Director, Graduate Programs, Clayton State University
- Jeannie P. Cimiotti, Co-Director of Research
- Jacqueline A. Nikpour, Co-Director of Research
- Miguel Martinez, Data Analyst
Reports
Annual Report
Education-Practice Pathways into and in Nursing
- Georgia Nursing Education Program Offerings Report, 2024
- Georgia Advanced Practice Nursing Education Programs Report, 2021-2022
- State of Georgia Pre-Licensure Nursing Education, AY 2023-2024