UNCG’s School of Nursing has launched the successful careers of thousands of students. While many graduates will fondly remember favorite professors or advisors, they also appreciate the many staff members working behind the scenes to ensure positive outcomes for the next generation of nursing professionals.
Meet Audrey Bryk-Lee, Kymberley Hoffman, and Alexandra Montross, three team members whose unique contributions are integral to the SON’s efficient and successful operations.
Audrey Bryk-Lee, Improving Learning Outcomes
Audrey Bryk-Lee plays a unique role at SON: As an academic technology specialist, she supports faculty’s innovation in teaching by implementing the latest evidence-based teaching practices.
“Our faculty bring exceptional knowledge and experience to the classroom but may default to teaching how they were taught,” says Bryk-Lee. “Our understanding of how people learn continues to expand, so I provide ongoing support for best practices, based on the science of how students learn.”
Bryk-Lee helps faculty make courses more engaging, so students better retain information, enabling them to transfer knowledge and skills to real-world applications. She trains teaching staff to utilize learning platforms and other technologies, supports the design of courses and assessments, and advises instructors on making coursework more accessible.
Bryk-Lee thinks of learning as her superpower, and she’s eager to instill her power in SON students.
“The best advice I can give them is to develop a growth mindset,” she says. “Students will have setbacks, but they can learn from these experiences. If they keep working, they will meet their goals.”
Kymberley Hoffman, Boosting Student Success
Prior to coming to UNCG in 2017, Kymberley Hoffman worked as an academic advisor and in the admissions department at another university but didn’t find it fulfilling.
“I wanted to do something where I was more involved with how the students did academically,” she says.
Hoffman’s new role at UNCG as academic enhancement coordinator is one of the first positions of its kind in North Carolina. In this position, she supports the success of students who need it the most.
Hoffman helps students who need additional support with classes, clinicals, and other aspects of their programs. Her responsibilities involve offering testing and study skill tools, hosting workshops on resilience, and connecting students with graduate student tutors.
“The culture of nursing schools in the past has been very hard,” she says. “We try to soften that culture while still maintaining expectations. We let students know life doesn’t stop just because they’re in nursing school.”
Hoffman’s favorite aspect of her job is seeing her students succeed. “When I watch my students graduate, it’s a very emotional moment.”
Her advice to SON students?
“Nursing school is where they can make mistakes, where they can struggle on exams, or where the material may not make sense,” she says. “They need to overcome those things here, so we can launch them to become great health care providers.”
Alexandra Montross, Breaking Down Data
Alexandra Montross started her career with UNCG in 2020 as a temporary worker, helping SON move to its new home in the Nursing and Instructional Building. A year later, she was hired full-time as administrative support specialist. Now, she serves as the academic data and finance associate for the school.
“I must be resourceful and adaptable due to my varied responsibilities,” says Montross. “The original job description has changed due to the school growing and changing.”
Primarily, Montross works with data, tracking enrollments and the student body makeup across degrees and programs. She manages data for grant applications, tracks graduation and employment rates, and aggregates results from course evaluations.
“I like helping data make sense for people,” she says. “Recently, a faculty member needed large data sets on SON student population for a grant application. I met her needs by creating an Excel workbook with a summary page based on that data.”
Montross doesn’t often interact directly with students, but she offers some advice.
“Seek opportunities that seem different or disparate from your field of study,” she says. “They can impact you in unique and surprising ways.”
Story written by Jessica Harlan, AMBCopy
Photography provided by Sean Norona, University Communications
