Linda Heim McCausland, BS '74, MS '78 & EdD '90

Linda Heim McCausland earned her RN from the Buffalo General Hospital School of Nursing, which exposed her to UB through various nursing classwork. Early on she realized nursing was a good fit, and that teaching would be her goal.

After earning her bachelor's degree from UB in 1974 she began her teaching career at Buffalo General while simultaneously pursuing her master's degree, also from UB. A teaching position became available at UB in 1978, and McCausland has been with the institution ever since. In addition, she went on to complete her third UB degree, a doctorate in health behavioral science, in 1990.

McCausland exudes a passion for teaching and has long been recognized for her wide variety of techniques and employing creativity in both the classroom and clinical settings. She strives to present the latest knowledge in a complete and stimulating way, and has an "amazing ability" to present complex information to students in an "organized, creative and interesting way," devoting a great deal of effort to ongoing curriculum development and integrating technical advances, such as the use of human patient simulators, in her teaching.

She continuously goes above and beyond in her efforts to assist the school, with efforts that include helping create teaching partnerships with the Kaleida Healthcare System and serving as faculty advisor for the undergraduate Nursing Student Organization (NSO) for a decade, an extremely time-intensive position. McCausland is also active in the nursing honor society, Sigma Theta Tau, which recognizes outstanding student academic achievement, and she assists in numerous student recruitment and orientation efforts.

When UB introduced the accelerated baccalaureate nursing program in 2004, McCausland was instrumental in its implementation, from curriculum development to selecting applicants and evaluating the program's effectiveness. She has also been published in scholarly journals and is a reviewer for the International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship.

She has been lauded for her dedication numerous times. She is the recipient of the Mecca S. Cranley Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005, the 2010 Nurse of Distinction Award from the UB School of Nursing and Professional Nurses Association of Western New York and the UB School of Nursing Distinguished Mentor Award.