Rutgers University-Camden Nursing Professor Marie O’Toole Named National League for Nursing Fellow

The National League for Nursing’s (NLN) Academy of Nursing Education recently named Marie O’Toole, a nursing professor at Rutgers University-Camden, a fellow. NLN fellows are selected for their contributions to nursing education — as teachers, mentors, scholars, public policy advocates, practice partners, administrators, and more. O’Toole was one of 16 nurses selected nationwide for the distinction in 2018, recognized for their leadership and expertise in nursing education.

O’Toole serves as senior associate dean in the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden and is a registered nurse in New Jersey and New York. She began her career serving as a staff nurse at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania before serving as a nursing instructor at Rutgers–Camden and going on to serve a 35-year academic career at several notable institutions. She has also served as the associate dean for the Stratford campus for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Nursing, which is now a part of Rutgers University. O’Toole attended the University of Pennsylvania for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing, and earned her doctoral degree from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education.

O’Toole tells news.camden.rutgers.edu, “I am proud to be a part of a growing, thriving academic community that strives to make a difference in its home city of Camden and also is committed to scholarship that distinguishes it on an international level.”

O’Toole was the recipient of a Fulbright Specialist grant in education in 2016-17 that allowed her to teach and study at Jordan University of Science and Technology in Irbid, Jordan. The grant recognized O’Toole’s innovative work in developing and implementing global nurse education programs with partners in other countries. In the 1990s, she worked with the nonprofit organization Health Volunteers Overseas on a project funded by the US Agency for International Development to develop baccalaureate nursing education in Vietnam. She also served as the principal investigator for a grant funded by the US Department of Education and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Culture to create the first undergraduate, dual-degree program in nursing addressing the growing need for international recognition of nursing education to facilitate efficient emigration of nurses.