Frank D. Hicks, PhD, RN, CNE is professor and chair of Adult Health and Gerontological Nursing in the Rush University College of Nursing. He received his BSN from Indiana University, a MS and PhD in Nursing Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in nursing and neurobehavior at the University of Michigan. Hicks’ scholarship focused on decision-making processes of providers and patients, as well as aspects of the philosophy of nursing science and theory development. His most recent scholarship has examined the benefits of simulation vs. clinical experience in nursing students, and the long-term outcomes of nurse residency programs.
Hicks’ clinical background includes positions in medical and surgical critical care areas. He has held positions as a staff nurse, charge nurse, assistant head nurse, and preceptor, as well as Clinical Nurse Specialist for the heart transplant program at Rush University Medical Center.
He has taught at Indiana University Northwest, Loyola University Chicago, and Rush University College of Nursing and Carthage College. While at Rush, as assistant dean for academic affairs, Hicks led the development and implementation of the pre-licensure and post-licensure Clinical Nurse Leader master’s degree programs. Hicks was the inaugural director for the BSN and RN-BSN programs at Carthage College. During his time at Carthage, he led the newly created Department of Nursing through its successful initial accreditation visit, established an undergraduate fellowship in population health, and successfully established and promoted opportunities for undergraduate research.
For more than 20 years, he has been recognized as an excellent teacher, having won Teacher of the Year for the Niehoff School of Nursing at Loyola Chicago, Sigma Theta Tau Alpha Beta Chapter Excellence in Education award, and the Excellence in Education for Rush University. He was chosen as an Illinois Board of Higher Education Nursing Education Fellow in 2014 and received certification as a nurse educator (CNE) from the National League of Nursing.
