Nursing faculty Christina Lam recognized as Distinguished Teacher in CHBS
College of Health and Behavioral Studies
Christina Lam, PhD, RN, in the School of Nursing, is the recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award from the College of Health and Behavioral Studies.
The Distinguished Teacher Award recognizes faculty who have completed at least five years of service at JMU, have consistently demonstrated outstanding teaching and is seen as a model for faculty and students.
Lam is committed to student learning and success and enhances her pedagogy with innovation in the classroom. She draws on the most current evidence-based practices to inspire and motivate her students to learn.
Her effectiveness in the classroom is evidenced by consistently receiving excellent student evaluation scores. Lam has a deep knowledge base of course content, enthusiasm for the nursing profession, and an understanding of how to maintain interest and attention with a large cohort of students. Her students, current and former, describe her as compassionate, approachable, kind and dedicated to their success.
Lam has been nominated by the Virginia Nurses Foundation for Nurse Educator of the Year and by the School of Nursing for The Faculty Farrell Excellence in Teaching Award.
Recently, Lam redesigned Health Assessment, a Nursing course that develops knowledge and skills in gathering, organizing and presenting relevant health data, to include standardized patients and iterative design to foster students’ clinical judgement, communication and empathy skills.
Lam was instrumental in bringing about important changes in the School of Nursing curriculum as a member and former chair of the School of Nursing Undergraduate Curriculum Committee that led to revisions of the program’s student learning outcomes and laid the foundation for the school’s transition to competency-based education.
She created learning communities for nursing students whose clinical experiences were in rural primary care settings and was instrumental in the development and implementation of a peer mentoring program for undergraduate nursing students.
Lam serves as an academic advisor for the Chronic Illness minor, which is comprised of more than 370 students from across disciplines. She also chairs honors projects and supports independent study courses that enhance student learning.
