When talking about higher education, people most want to learn from those who take pride in what they teach.
That is no truer than with Gina Harrison.
Harrison is a faculty of practice for the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program in the Passan School of Nursing. She works within the graduate program, helping those with completion of their master’s degree.
Her name may sound familiar because she is a former adjunct faculty member at the university.
“I think that working with graduate students is very interesting because everybody has a life that they have already established so they come with a lot of experience and knowledge that they can really add to the class and bring their own flavor to the course,” said Harrison.
Her experience with Wilkes comes from growing up in the area of northeastern Pennsy lvania. She was born in Plymouth and moved around the area throughout her life to places like HunLock Creek and Shickshinny, where she currently lives.
She completed her bachelor of science degree at Penn State Scranton in nursing. She then earned her master of science in nursing science at Wilkes and is currently working toward her doctoral degree in nursing practice, looking to be finished at the end of the current semester.
Not only does Harrison teach and learn at Wilkes, but she also serves in practice currently as a psychiatric-mental health certified registered nurse practitioner at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas.
“The job of working as a psychiatric professional in a correctional institution is very interesting.” said Harrison. “There is never really a dull moment and it is really needed too because a lot of people who are incarcerated require mental health treatment.”
Harrison holds three major responsibilities in her professional life with holding jobs at Wilkes and in state corrections, while still working to complete her degree.
“I like to fill my time,” said Harrison. “You have to be really dedicated and I think learning at Wilkes and Penn State and other local colleges has really prepared me to be diligent in studying to make sure that I can give back to the community. And to keep it growing and keep people in the area.”
Harrison loves Wilkes from her time as a student here and hopes to show students the increased importance of mental health in the United States.