Faculty

Deborah Marks Conley, Instructor, Gerontological and Educational Consultant, is a Board Certified Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist-Advanced Practice Registered Nurse at Nebraska Methodist Hospital (NMH) and has a joint appointment with Nebraska Methodist College in Omaha, Nebraska. She received her BSN from Central Missouri State University in 1976 and her MSN in Gerontological Nursing from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing in 1994.

Ms. Conley developed and has taught an annual Conley Gerontological Nurse Certification Exam Preparation Course for the past 18 years. In 2009, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Partners Investing in Nursing's Future awarded $250,000 to UNMC College of Nursing and the Vetter Foundation and 15 regional partners who pledged an additional $250,000 to fund their project, Midwest Partners for Geriatric Nursing (M. Cramer and G. Van Ekeren, Project Directors). Ms. Conley joined the project team to develop and teach a revised Blackboard course for Gerontological Nurse Preparation, which used key principles and content from Ms. Conley original work.

Ms. Conley has been recognized for her professional nursing and community endeavors. In 2011, she received the National Gerontological Nursing Association Distinguished Service Award in Gerontological Nursing, and in 2010 she was the recipient of the Sigma Theta Tau International, Tau Tau Chapter Star Award for Nursing Research. In 2008 she received The Nebraska Distinguished Nurse by the Nebraska March of Dimes and the Alzheimer's Association Midlands Chapter Volunteer of the Year award. In 2004 Ms Conley was the recipient of the Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist of the Year by the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists and the John A. Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University. Ms. Conley is a Fellow of the National Gerontological Nursing Association and a NIC NOC and NANDA Fellow at the University of Iowa College of Nursing Classifications Center. She has extensive expertise in gerontological nursing and presents locally, nationally and international on gerontological nursing topics.