Wright State nursing faculty member Deborah Ulrich honored with distinguished educator award

Deborah L. Ulrich, professor of nursing

Deborah L. Ulrich, Ph.D., professor of nursing at Wright State University, received the Mildred E. Newton Distinguished Educator Award from The Ohio State Nursing Alumni Society.

Ulrich was honored Oct. 6 at a nursing homecoming banquet in Columbus. She has two degrees from The Ohio State University.

The award honors a nurse whose “personal integrity, leadership, commitment to nursing education and advancement of nursing science has contributed significantly to the advancement of the nursing profession and the preparation of the next generation of nurses.”

Ulrich was recognized for her outstanding accomplishments as both and educator and administrator.

Her administrative contributions to the profession have consisted of leading two new nursing schools and pioneering several programs advancing nurses from high school through doctoral preparation. She previously served as interim dean of the Wright State College of Nursing and Health and is a professor emeritus at Miami University.

As a nurse leader, Ulrich has been actively involved at local and state levels. She has served on several advisory boards for local schools of nursing that award associate and baccalaureate degrees in nursing, including Sinclair, Clark State and Edison State community colleges. She has also served as an active member of the Dayton Area Nurse Educators and the Ohio Council of Deans and Directors of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs in Nursing.

Spanning her nearly 50-year career, Ulrich has developed evidenced-based curricula that have significantly contributed to the knowledge in the field of nursing education. She is best known for her contribution to nursing education, including creative teaching strategies that have been used across the globe.

Ulrich was also recognized for her role as an originator of multiple emerging nursing case studies that were chronicled in a pair of books she co-authored. Her research has included studying community health teaching practices to include best practices for teaching future nurses, the impact of workplace and natural environment exposures on human health, and how best to approach policies aimed at improving population health outcomes.

As a Wright State faculty member, Ulrich takes nursing students to local schools for vision and hearing screenings and facilitates student-led health education programs. She also works closely with agency preceptors to advance leadership students with best practices to maintain quality and safety, helping to secure postgraduate positions.

Ulrich was inducted as a fellow in the National League for Nurses Academy of Nursing Education in 2015.

She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing and Ph.D. from Ohio State and a master’s degree from Ball State.