When Dr. Jennifer Hunter first graduated from Northern Kentucky University, she never imagined all that she would achieve. She has worked as an RN, led a large public health agency, and seen the impact of her service in local communities. Coming back to NKU as a professor and program director was perhaps the biggest
surprise.
“I’m really proud that I not only was educated at NKU and that’s where I got my start but that now I’ve come full circle,” she said.
The story begins and ends with her strong devotion to patients and to the people of Northern Kentucky.
Hunter earned an Associate Degree in Nursing at NKU in 1988 and returned to the University for her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1996. The more knowledge she gained as an RN, the more she noticed that some patients required extra support to get well or stay that way, especially when they were discharged from the hospital. She realized that those without a stable living situation, a job, or family members in the picture might not be able to afford medications they were prescribed or have access to proper follow-up care. She set out to change that.
While working for the Northern Kentucky Health Department, Hunter earned her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Kentucky, along with a certification in public health nursing. After graduating in 2010, she was promoted to Director of Clinical Services. Hunter went on to manage a multidisciplinary staff of over a hundred employees, providing essential services aimed at improving health outcomes for local citizens.
She retired in 2018 after a 30-year career in public health. “I felt like I wanted to plant a garden. I had things to do at my house, I had all these other non-nursing things to do,” she remembered. It lasted four months.
An undergraduate public health professor at NKU had to drop out of courses two weeks before the start of a semester, and Hunter got a phone call. She filled in, teaching for one term, then another. “I got the bug,” she said. “I just loved it, absolutely loved it.”
When the director of NKU’s Nurse Advocacy Center for the Underserved (NACU) retired in 2019, Hunter was offered the position. She is now a full-time assistant professor in the nursing school, blending her teaching with work at NACU. This allows her to give students first-hand experience in public health.
Completing NKU’s online Post-Master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program in 2022 is her latest achievement in this surprise second career, and one that continues to advance her instructional and clinical practice.
From Professor to Student
Hunter is proud of the fact that she was born and raised in Northern Kentucky and that her work with NACU—a Covington-based nonprofit collaboration between NKU and community organizations—helps provide underserved populations with free healthcare. She takes her public health nursing students on NACU site visits as well, to demonstrate how concepts she’s teaching in the classroom apply in community settings.
“I tell my nursing students all the time, you know, when you’re in the hospital, you have no idea where [patients] have come from,” she said. “You need to help them with the resources in the community so they can stay healthy.”
Once Hunter began considering a doctorate, her focus remained on service. She was interested in earning the degree because it could help her do more for others. “It wasn’t just to get these initials behind my name,” she laughed.
She explored both Ph.D. and DNP options, looking for programs where she could use existing research to address critical issues and apply what she learned in real time. “That’s why I chose the DNP over the Ph.D.,” she said. “I wanted to take something that was already evidence and put that into practice.”
NKU’s 100% online DNP program was a great option for her hectic schedule, and she knew the faculty would be excellent. However, Hunter was nervous about becoming an online student. Although she had transitioned to teaching in that modality during the COVID-19 pandemic, she earned all three of her previous degrees on campus. She also knew doctoral study would be challenging on its own. “This was a totally new experience for me,” she said.
After taking a few classes, she felt at ease. “I was really able to relate to my mentor in the program and the people that were surrounding me trying to help me be successful,” she noted. “When you get into NKU’S DNP program, there are people to support you along the way.”
That included her classmates and instructors. Hunter liked interacting with nurses from different fields during discussions and group assignments, as well as the bonds they developed. Professors who introduced her to new online research tools and learning apps helped her integrate more technology into her teaching. “I can turn around and put that into the classroom for my students,” she said.
Hunter’s dissertation project was perhaps her most important learning experience because it applied theory and inquiry to the challenges she experienced as a clinician. She says completing it was about more than checking off the final requirement for her degree. “It actually is going to help me propel my advocacy work in the community,” she said, “and make more of an impact.”
Planting Seeds for a Healthy Community
As part of her dissertation, Hunter conducted a social health needs assessment at a local church NACU partners with to provide services. The congregation offers a food bank and also a free meal each Monday for community members experiencing homelessness or food insecurity. NACU nurses regularly hold a clinic at the church after the meal, and Hunter collected data on 34 research participants she recruited there.
She surveyed participants on issues such as their health, safety, financial stability, and support resources, then worked on connecting them to local agencies and nonprofits that could potentially meet their needs. She followed each individual for 12 weeks, and the results exceeded her expectations. “The national benchmark for getting people connected to social services is 40%,” she noted. “My program was almost a 65% connection rate.”
Hunter believes the approach her project took to linking people with support made a difference because she provided one-to-one assistance tailored to the individual. She credits her DNP dissertation committee for the key advice and feedback that helped shape her research. “Their goal and their intention was to make me a better student, a better nurse, a better researcher—and I feel that they did that,” she said. “They were with me all along the way.”
Since graduation, Hunter has been speaking to both academic and professional audiences about her project, highlighting her methods and results. During 2023, she presented at conferences for the Kentucky Society of Perianesthesia Nurses and the Southern Ohio Northern Kentucky Consortium of Sigma Theta Tau International. Hunter also disseminated her successful research and networked with experts and peers at the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators in San Diego, California—a joint conference with the American Public Health Association.
She has also secured the funding to turn her research into an ongoing service. Hunter was awarded a $3,000 seed grant from the NKU Institute for Health Innovation’s Faculty Fellows Program that supported the project’s continuation last summer. NACU was then awarded a $20,000 grant from Horizon Community Funds and a $522,965 grant from the Kentucky Department for Public Health to continue the outreach and expand services in subsequent years.
“I’m just going to keep going and keep trying to do it again and again,” she said, noting that the gaps she sees in healthcare and social services are part of larger societal issues that she would like to address. “That’s my role,” she advised, “to be the biggest advocate for this population.”
Hunter feels she now has the means to achieve her goals in the field of public health, thanks to her DNP preparation. “It’s probably the best educational decision that I’ve made in my professional life,” she affirmed.
“It’s a wonderful program,” she said. “I’m so, so happy that I made the choice to go.”
Learn more about NKU’s online Post-Master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program.
