Dr. Shelley Blackwood is the Director of the McLennan Community College Associate Degree Nursing Program. She also teaches graduate research and is a quantitative dissertation chair for PhD in Nursing candidates at Liberty University Online. Before accepting the leadership role at MCC in 2020, Dr. Blackwood taught critical care nursing, pharmacology, and advanced patho-pharm at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor (UMHB) for more than seven years. She was also the Director of the Clinical Simulation Learning Center at UMHB. Her nursing career began on a progressive care unit in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. In 2010, she and her family relocated to Central Texas and she joined the team of staff nurses and Nursing Professional Development Specialists at Baylor Scott & White Health- Hillcrest Medical Center. Dr. Blackwood is a Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) and Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE). She holds two advanced education degrees, Doctor of Education (EdD) and Education Specialist (EdS) in Curriculum and Instruction and two nursing degrees including a Master of Science in Nursing - Nurse Educator (MSN), and Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). She is a published author/textbook contributor and public speaker. Her research interests include clinical decision making, effective clinical experiences for nursing students, nursing history (leadership), and clinical simulation in nursing education.