Susan Corbridge selected as 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award winner
The award has been conferred since 1978 and is the highest honor presented to an alumna/us of the college.
Corbridge selected as 2025 College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award winner
Whenever Susan Corbridge, PhD ’09, APRN, FAANP, FCCP, FNAP, FAAN, considers a career move, she always makes sure it checks three boxes.
“I want to make an impact; I have to continue to learn, to stretch and grow; and I want to have fun,” she says. “Life is short.”
Those parameters brought Corbridge to her current position as chief education innovation officer for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), where she’s at the forefront of shaping national nursing education. She’s also leading the implementation of the 2021 AACN Essentials, a major shift for professional nursing schools nationwide from a content-based model to a competency-based education model.
Corbridge was selected as the 2025 UIC College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award winner. The award has been conferred since 1978 and is the highest honor presented to an alumna/us of the college.
“If you’ve been to a major nursing conference in the past three years, chances are you’ve seen Susan on the stage,” wrote Charles Yingling, DNP ’12, MS ‘05, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, dean of the University of Nevada-Reno Orvis School of Nursing, in his nominating letter. “It’s no surprise—Susan’s fingerprints are on nearly every national conversation about the future of nursing education.”
23 years at UIC Nursing
Corbridge is now a clinical professor emerita at UIC Nursing, but she first came to UIC Nursing in 1998 to serve as director of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program.
At the time, nurse practitioners were just beginning to work in acute care settings such as hospitals and ICUs. Corbridge was working as a pulmonary and critical care nurse practitioner at Michael Reese Hospital when then-UIC Nursing faculty member Julie Zerwic, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, recruited her to teach in UIC Nursing’s program.
“That’s when I just completely fell in love with education,” Corbridge says. “Education is a way to make a huge impact. I’ve always had so much joy in everything I do as a nurse practitioner, and I wanted to share that with students because that’s the way you can really multiply your impact.”
Corbridge served as the director of the ACNP program for 14 years and was an early adopter of simulation as a part of nursing education.
While still in that role, she enrolled in the PhD program at UIC Nursing, studying the effect of nicotine addiction in an animal model with her advisor, Mariann Piano, PhD ’88, MS ’84, RN, FAAN, FAHA (2019 Distinguished Alumni Award winner). She valued the research strength at UIC, including the ability to take courses across the university in other disciplines.
Corbridge went on to serve in more leadership positions at UIC Nursing, including associate dean for practice and community partnerships and executive associate dean until 2021. In those roles, she provided oversight as the college took a leading role in providing COVID-19 vaccinations and led the transition of the Peoria campus to a virtual campus.
Finding her voice
Throughout Corbridge’s career, she has deliberately maintained her commitment to clinical practice, even while climbing the ladder in nursing education. From 2002 to 2022, she practiced as a pulmonary and critical care nurse practitioner at UI Health.
“My connection to practice was really several-fold,” she says. “It was my love for being a patient advocate and making change for the better in health care. It also made me a better educator because I could provide real-world cases, and it helped our college be connected with clinical opportunities and practice partnerships.”
Now, in her role at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), Corbridge represents nursing education nationally and is a sought-after speaker. She influences workforce development, sits on a national regulatory panel for advanced practice nursing, and leads academic-practice partnership initiatives, including collaborative work with the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.
She also leads AACN’s national initiative to implement the 2021 AACN Essentials. This calls for nursing educators to shift to a “competency-based education” system and outlines core competencies for professional nursing education. Corbridge designed and launched a national faculty coaching program and a series of educational workshops, which have reached over 4,000 faculty members. She delivered a national webinar and conference series and leads national direction and decision-making for the transition to the new Essentials.
Corbridge says one of the things she’s enjoyed most in her career is being a mentor – finding leadership opportunities for colleagues and encouraging them to pursue them. In 2022, Corbridge was given an award for her mentorship with the SAGE Award at the Power of Nursing Leadership event, and in 2024, she was awarded Rush University College of Nursing’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
“How can we, as nurses, have the largest voice?” Corbridge asks. “We are the ones who are with patients. We’re the largest health care profession. Patients trust us. We are smart, innovative and can and should be leading change. We are such a valuable voice for patients.”