Nurse of the Week: UCF Nursing Professor Passes Away After Recently Being Honored for Innovation in Teaching
Linda Howe, Associate Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Central Florida (UCF), recently passed away on May 13th at 67 years old. The university is very saddened by the loss of an esteemed faculty member, but the dean of the College of Nursing says Howe has left behind a legacy for current and future nursing students.
Howe was honored for her innovative teaching strategies in October 2015 and inducted as a fellow into the National League for Nursing’s Academy of Nursing Education. Her innovative teaching included creating The Village, a unique case-based approach to teaching pharmacology to engage students and increase their understanding of the content while encouraging their self-discovery. It’s an affordable and easily adaptable teaching method that is now being used in more than 70 schools across the US. She also frequently used the book “The Other End of the Stethoscope” to teach nursing values by helping students see things from a patient’s perspective to teach ethics, caring, and the importance of patient education.
In her 30-year academic career, Howe held several faculty and leadership roles during her time as a nurse. Most notably, Howe spent 12 years at Clemson University’s School of Nursing where she retired as an associate professor emerita before transitioning to her position as an undergraduate associate professor at UCF for the past three years. Howe received her BSN from the University of Texas before beginning her clinical career in intensive and critical care, the specialty she remained in for most of her time as a nurse. She also received her MSN from Texas Women’s University and her PhD from the University of South Carolina. Her special research interests included nursing and institutional history, nursing education strategies, pharmacogenomics, and deep tissue injury prevention and healing.
Howe was also an active member in several professional nursing organizations, both local and national, including serving on the NLN Board of Governors, President-elect of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, Theta Epsilon Chapter, and an editorial board member for the journal Nursing Education Perspectives.
During her time at UCF, Howe served as the faculty mentor/consultant of the Student Nurses Association (SNA) chapter for UCF’s Orlando campus. The SNA chapter became an award-winning chapter under her leadership and earned state and national recognition for its commitment to community service in nursing. Howe also established a scholarship with her husband shortly before her death, the Elizabeth Marie Howe Memorial Endowed Nursing Scholarship, to support future NICU nurses in memory of their daughter who passed away after only a few short days of life. Memorial contributions can now be made to the scholarship fund in honor of Dr. Howe’s life, and her role as a nurse and educator.
DailyNurse is honoring Dr. Linda Howe as our Nurse of the Week.