WSU Vancouver professor honored

SALMON CREEK — Dr. Connie Kim Yen Nguyen-Truong, an assistant professor at WSU Vancouver’s College of Nursing, was recently honored with the Excellence and Innovation in Teaching Award from the American Association of Colleges and Nursing. Nguyen-Truong is the first person from WSU Vancouver’s nursing program to be recognized for the award. The organization looked to Nguyen-Truong’s work for representing “transformative, culturally sensitive advances in teaching and learning for the benefit of nursing and other disciplines.” Nguyen-Truong has worked as an educator for 15 years. Her research and teaching focuses on cultural immersion experiences. She works to increase communication between faculty, students and representatives from minority communities. “Dr. Connie Nguyen-Truong’s outreach methods help engage minority communities in academic research as well as in community-building programs,” said Dr. Mary Koithan, dean of the WSU College of Nursing. “She creates an environment of mutual respect and cultural sensitivity, enabling discussions of difficult subjects.”