NLN Welcomes New Chief Program Officer

NLN Welcomes New Chief Program Officer

Dr. Gordon Gillespie, Eminent Workplace Safety Scholar, Bringing Decades of Leadership in Nursing Education

Washington, DC — Gordon Lee Gillespie, PhD, DNP, RN, FAAN, professor and former interim dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been named the new Chief Program Officer (CPO) of the National League for Nursing. An international expert in the prevention of workplace violence against health care workers, Dr. Gillespie has also been serving as director of the Occupational Health Nursing Program at the college.

The position of CPO has an extensive portfolio in helping to shape and guide the vision of the League. Dr. Gillespie will be responsible, in collaboration with senior management, professional staff and the Board of Governors, for directing League programs and services in faculty development; educational innovations in teaching and learning; publications of the NLN Press; initiatives promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in nursing education; and promoting a workplace culture of safety and caring. He will also work with the NLN Foundation for Nursing Education to increase financial support for research that advances the science of nursing education and cultivate relations with external funding and programming partners.

Dr. Gillespie comes to the National League for Nursing with a deep bench of experience in nursing education that has included leadership in senior management/administration; programming innovation; faculty development; grant writing and research; DEI initiatives; workplace safety; publications; external and staff relations; and academic and clinical teaching.

He is also a an alumni of the NLN Leadership Institute LEAD program, which is designed for nurses in education and practice who have recently been challenged with rapid transition into leadership positions, those in leadership positions who desire a formal leadership program, and those emerging and aspiring to lead.

Among his signature achievements in his previous role as interim nursing dean have been the establishment of two new revenue-generating academic pathways at the university. An MSN Nurse Educator Program has already been launched; a Bachelor of Science in Health Care Coordination Program integrates the sciences of nursing and social work and is now under review by the state Department of Education.

Dr. Gillespie’s groundbreaking research in workplace violence against health care workers has been funded by the CDC-National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the American Nurses Foundation; and the Emergency Nurses Association Foundation. It led to an invitation from CDC-NIOSH to develop an educational program on workplace bullying, consult on two national online learning modules, and chair the CDC-NIOSH-supported National Conference for Workplace Violence Prevention and Management in Health Care Settings.

His work has been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Government Accountability Office, American Nurses Association, and practitioners and researchers across five continents. He was also guest editor of a special themed issue on workplace violence for two interprofessional journals and co-chaired the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario’s second edition of the Best Practices Guideline, Preventing and Managing Bullying and Violence in the Workplace.

A registered nurse for more nearly 30 years working in emergency departments, public health, and academic settings, Dr. Gillespie served as an international director of the Emergency Nurses Association. He has been a member of the UC-College of Nursing faculty for 16 years, teaching across all levels of graduate and undergraduate study.

Dr. Gillespie began life in hardscrabble circumstances. From the age of 11, he worked to help support his family, which throughout his childhood battled marginal homelessness, couch-surfing with friends, and once living in an empty office building. Dr. Gillespie credits this early adversity with contributing to a personal drive, resilience and empathy that has propelled remarkable professional success, marked by numerous leadership opportunities; prestigious awards and recognitions, and the publication of multiple articles in respected peer-reviewed journals.

“I reflect on these experiences regularly, as I value the National League for Nursing’s mission to promote excellence in nursing education to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the health of our nation and global community,” said Dr. Gillespie.

After earning his associate’s degree in nursing in 1996, simultaneously working several jobs, Dr. Gillespie continued his education to complete his Bachelor of Applied Science in Nursing at Miami University of Ohio (2001); an MSN in Community Health Nursing at the University of Cincinnati (2005); and two doctoral degrees, a PhD from the University of Cincinnati (2008) and a DNP from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee (2015). He also completed the Nurse Educator Graduate Certificate Program from the University of Cincinnati (2015).

“The National League for Nursing is incredibly fortunate to have Dr. Gillespie join the senior management here at a time when the recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty is more important than ever to the preparation of our nation’s nursing workforce. On behalf of the NLN Board of Governors, I congratulate him on his selection and look forward to working with him,” said NLN Chair Patricia Sharpnack, DNP, RN, CNE, NEA-BC, ANEF, FAAN, Dean and Strawbridge Professor at the Breen School of Nursing and Health Professions at Ursuline College in Ohio.

“Dr. Gillespie quickly emerged from a competitive field of candidates whose experience and temperament perfectly align with the National League for Nursing mission and core values. On behalf of the entire staff, I enthusiastically welcome him aboard. We anticipate accomplishing great things together to achieve transformative excellence in nursing education,” said NLN President and CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN.

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