UHCL prof wins prestigious nursing education scholarship

September 16, 2019 | UHCL Staff

University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Lecturer in Nursing Lecturer in Nursing Shatoi King was one of just eight nursing professionals chosen from among thousands of applicants to receive the National League for Nursing’s coveted Nursing Education Faculty Scholarship Award.

King, who has been teaching in UH-Clear Lake at Pearland’s RN-to-BSN program for four years, is working toward her doctorate in nursing education at University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, hoping to graduate in summer 2020. “I applied for the scholarship because I’m in the Ph.D program and I’m getting close to finishing. I’m a candidate now,” she said. “My research is focused on Nigerian immigrant nursing students and how they acclimate to U.S. nursing programs.”

She said she had seen the information about the NLN scholarship and almost didn’t complete her application. “I waited until the absolute last day before the deadline to apply,” she said. “There are so many applicants; I thought it was a total shot in the dark. My doctoral committee chair and (Assistant Professor of Nursing and RN-to-BSN Program Director) Karen Alexander wrote letters for me and I supplied the information about my research proposal. I had the application ready weeks before the deadline but I just didn’t hit the ‘submit’ button until the very last day.”

“Shatoi deserves this prestigious honor,” said Alexander. “As her long-time mentor, I continue to enjoy the privilege of watching her grow in both her role as an educator and now through her journey to her doctorate. She has shown grit in her educational pursuit and I am confident she will excel in her career goals.”

King said she received an email from NLN early in the morning on July 17. “I thought they were emailing to say I didn’t receive the award,” she said. “I actually closed out of the email, but then I went back to it. I could not believe it said I was chosen to receive the award. I just sat there and stared at the screen.”

After bursting into tears of joy and waking her husband to tell him the news, King said she was happiest about the part of the email that acknowledged the research that she was conducting. “They said what I am doing is promising for the future of nursing education,” she said. “Those words from them mean so much to me.”

King said she would put the funds toward tuition for the next two semesters. “I will be going to the NLN Education Summit in Washington D.C. Sept. 26-28 to receive the award,” she said. “It still feels surreal to me to have been chosen from so many thousands of applicants. It’s been a huge ‘wow’ moment for me.”

Read more about UHCL’s RN-to-BSN program online.