Dr. Michelle Nelson earns MBA, NBNA Fellowship

(August 13, 2024) - As Dr. Michelle Nelson returns to Clayton State University for Fall 2024, she’s proud to bring not just her continued instructional excellence back to the classroom, but a new degree, as well.

During Summer 2024, Nelson earned her general MBA from Clayton State University’s College of Business an entire semester ahead of schedule!

Nelson is grateful to her colleagues in the College of Business, especially Dean Jacob Chacko, whom she said provided her with “kind and encouraging words” at her “lowest points” in her degree journey.

“The MBA faculty were very responsive to the challenges I had during the program,” Nelson said. “I appreciate the depth and breadth of the expertise they bring to their profession. I profusely thank them for their incredible and unwavering support.”

But for Nelson, her new and previously earned degrees aren’t just currently being celebrated for show.  

Over the summer, Nelson was also inducted as an inaugural fellow into the Natl. Black Nurses Association’s (NBNA) Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing (FADLN) in San Francisco – an experience she simply deemed as a surprising “tearjerker,” having not personally applied for the fellowship.

“I was inducted as a ‘Distinguished Fellow’ because of my evidenced nursing experience and noted expertise in the area(s) of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) during my career,” Nelson said. “Cultivating this distinguished group of respected thought leaders with expertise in JEDI is our way of ensuring access to high quality, evidence-based knowledge and interventions that will support the health of all people.”

According to the NBNA, “the Fellows of the Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing (FADLN) is a new fellowship program to recognize, support, and promote the astounding work that has been done to diversify the nursing profession by advancing health equity, creating anti-racism policies, and strengthening anti-racism healthcare practices in an intentional way.”

Upon acceptance, she called the feat “an auspicious honor” and is now a rare quadruple fellow in the American Assoc. of Nursing Practitioners, American Academy of Nursing, Natl. Academies of Practice, and the NBNA.

“Realizing that I was inducted among a highly lauded group of nursing leaders was a fantastic feeling,” Nelson said. “They are all proven leaders who are making a difference and who will continue to have an impact on the field as productive contributing members of this new FADLN academy. I was chosen because of my sustained impact in Georgia’s healthcare policy landscape. Ensuring access to quality, safe, cost-effective healthcare for all Georgians is my goal.”

More motivated than ever, Nelson said that she is ready to kick her advocacy into high gear “to save healthcare and help Georgia rise from the bottom to the top” for national healthcare outcome rankings.

Upon earning both her recent MBA and NBNA fellowship, she also intends to establish an MSN/MBA program of her own.

The program would focus solely on “educating and training Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) to be world-class advanced practice providers.”

“Like other classes of practitioners, FNPs do not receive in-depth business training,” Nelson said. “It is my objective to instill the businesses acumen necessary for FNPs to be not only great clinicians, but also savvy entrepreneurs with lucrative business. This is sorely needed, especially in the rural areas of Georgia where healthcare deserts are far too prevalent.”

Additionally, Nelson further said that she simply wants to encourage other Clayton State faculty to complete the university’s MBA program for themselves.

She further credited both the program and all who assisted her in earning it, saying it helped her refine her perspectives on “leadership, finance, human resources, marketing, accounting” and more along her business journey.

She particularly wanted to thank the NBNA selection committee as well as NBNA President Dr. Sheldon D. Fields, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, CRNP, AACRN, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN.

“I wish I did this a long time ago,” Nelson said. “It would have transformed and enriched my career much earlier.”