Columbia Southern University Gives First DAISY Award to Nurse Educator, Graduate Who Nominated Each Other

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Columbia Southern University has presented its first DAISY Award, honoring a nursing faculty member and a recent graduate who, as it turned out, had each nominated the other.

The university’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences recognized lead faculty member Mariah Holwick with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Educators and recent RN-to-BSN graduate Matthew Shuffstall with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students. During the awards ceremony, College of Nursing and Health Sciences Dean Bonny Kehm, Ph.D., told attendees that the two recipients had nominated each other for their respective honors.

The awards are part of The DAISY Foundation’s effort to recognize nursing faculty who inspire compassionate care in their students, and students who show that compassion during their education.

An educator who calls nursing ‘a calling’

Holwick, who serves as CSU’s lead faculty member and experiential learning coordinator, was honored for her dedication to academic excellence.

“Nursing has never felt like just a career choice, it has always felt like a calling,” Holwick said. “Supporting people during their times of greatest need and helping them regain confidence and hope has been part of who I am for as long as I can remember.”

As experiential learning coordinator, Holwick works in an area of nursing education focused on applying classroom knowledge in practical settings, an important part of preparing nurses to move from coursework into patient care and leadership roles.

A student who is already passing it on

Shuffstall completed CSU’s RN-to-BSN program, which allows registered nurses to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. His background is in emergency medical services education, the field that trains emergency medical technicians and paramedics, and he said he has already begun putting what he learned to work for his own students.

RN-to-BSN programs are designed for nurses who are already licensed, often after earning an associate degree or diploma, and want a bachelor’s degree. Demand for those programs has grown since the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report on the future of nursing recommended that 80% of the nation’s registered nurses hold a bachelor’s degree by 2020, and many employers now encourage or require the BSN for advancement.

“I’m already going back through and making new rubrics more defensible, things I learned through my Q/A, looking at all of the data in the project that Mariah helped me with,” Shuffstall said.

He credited Holwick with helping him and, through him, the people he teaches.

“Not only did she really help me succeed in obtaining my BSN, but she helped the students that I teach now through her wisdom and guidance through me,” he said.

The two awards reflect a theme common in nursing education: the influence of a single instructor often reaches well beyond one classroom. In this case, lessons from Shuffstall’s coursework are already shaping how he evaluates and teaches future EMS professionals.

The story behind the DAISY Award

The DAISY Foundation was founded in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at age 33 from complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, or ITP, a little-known but not uncommon autoimmune disease. In ITP, the immune system attacks and destroys platelets, the blood cells that help blood clot, which can lead to easy bruising and dangerous bleeding. The foundation’s name is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.

The Barnes family created the foundation to honor the extraordinary care Patrick and his family received from nurses during his hospital stay. The organization is best known for the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, presented at hospitals and health care organizations, and it has extended its recognition to nursing schools through awards for faculty and students.

“We honor faculty who inspire nurses to care like Patrick’s nurses cared for him and for our family,” said Bonnie Barnes, CEO and co-founder of The DAISY Foundation. “Recognizing and celebrating nursing students for the above-and-beyond care and compassion they show to patients and their families will be a strong reminder that nursing is not all about tasks and technology.”

How recipients are chosen

At CSU, nursing faculty and students may be nominated by colleagues, peers, patients, families or alumni. Recipients are selected by an awards committee, and the university plans to present the awards annually.

Opening nominations to peers, patients, families and alumni is meant to bring forward acts of compassion that might otherwise go unnoticed. This year’s ceremony offered an unusual twist, with the faculty and student honorees each having put the other forward.

About Columbia Southern University

Columbia Southern University is based in Orange Beach and offers online degree programs to students across the country. Its College of Nursing and Health Sciences offers nursing and health-related programs, including the RN-to-BSN pathway Shuffstall completed.

Earlier this month, CSU announced public safety wellness programs and new online degrees. The inaugural DAISY Awards add a new tradition for its nursing college, one that the university expects to continue each year.

Why recognition matters in nursing

Nursing remains one of the most demanding professions in health care, and nurse educators play a critical role in preparing the next generation of caregivers. Recognition programs like the DAISY Award aim to highlight compassion as a core part of the profession, alongside clinical skill and technical knowledge.

For CSU, the first awards highlight both sides of that relationship: an educator whose guidance shaped a student’s success, and a student who is already passing those lessons on to others.