National Forum Member Recognition Awards
The National Forum Member recognition awards celebrate the great amount of work by nursing workforce centers and our nursing workforce partners across the United States.
2024 National Forum Member Recognition Awardees
Exceptional Contribution: Associate Subscriber Award
Deborah C. Stamps EdD, MBA, MS, RN, GNP, NE-BC, CDE®, FAAN
Founder and CEO, Deborah Stamps Consulting, LLC
State: New York
The nominee is one of our most active associate subscribers. She was one of the first to join and has actively participated on sharing sessions, committees and other collaborative activities. She has been an active member on several of our committees including JEDI and Conference Committees including taking on leadership roles. She has collaborated with multiple states on JEDI related work, has served as a co-chair or our JEDI committee and is instrumental in developing tools and other resources for use by members. She has always been willing to step forward and volunteer her time and expertise on the committees that she has served on and has been a valuable addition to our membership.
Exceptional Contribution: State Representative Subscriber Award
Carrie Oliveira, Ph.D.
Associate Specialist for Workforce Research
Hawaii Center for Nursing
State: Hawaii
Dr. Oliveira has been a member of the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers since 2017 and has actively participated in the Research Committee since that time first serving as secretary until 2022, then as co-chair starting in 2022, and is currently chair. In the nominee’s capacity as a skilled communicator, convener, and a passionate mentor, the nominee has achieved two notable accomplishments within the Forum. First, the nominee worked in an interstate collaborative ad-hoc committee to design, build, test, and then deploy the state data dashboard. Second, in response to a colleague’s request for support in optimizing her outputs as a state nursing researcher, the nominee worked to support the undertaking of the colleague, and then further, worked with the colleague to present the resource to the members of the national forum. Within the Forum, she works to mentor other member representatives in strategies to conduct research, analyze data, and develop research-based recommendations to enhance the nursing workforce relative to individual states and state needs.
Lifetime Contribution Award
Kimberly J. Harper, MS, RN, FAAN
CEO, Indiana Center for Nursing
State: Indiana
Since 2011, Kim has been an instrumental figure within the National Forum, assuming various leadership roles. From 2012-2013, they served as a Board Member at Large, followed by their tenure as Vice President-elect and then as President. Throughout these pivotal roles, the nominee spearheaded numerous strategic initiatives crucial to the organization’s robust present stature. Noteworthy accomplishments include the orchestration of the transition to a nationally recognized organization through a pivotal name change and conceptualizing the current logo of the National Forum. The leaders’ contributions extend to their proactive involvement in the National Forum conference planning committees over a span of nine years. Beyond her administrative duties, Kim displayed a commitment to mentorship by engaging with new state workforce centers, offering invaluable guidance on organizational and governance frameworks. Her enduring impact has indelibly shaped the governance and structural fabric of the National Forum, while also serving as a consummate ambassador for the organization across many professional platforms throughout the years.
Lifetime Contribution Award
Marcia B. Proto, M.Ed, CAS
Executive Director, The CT Center for Nursing Workforce
State: Connecticut
After joining the National Forum in 2013, Marcia Proto’s organization stepped up to host the annual conference for the FORUM in Connecticut; and since then has actively participated on almost all of the volunteer leadership committees. On the Governance Committee, one of her roles was to bring forth a best-practice Board Evaluation Assessment so that the FORUM Board Leadership could assess their competencies, capacity, and ability to impact the national organization as well as engagement with state subscribers. As a member of annual conference committee for over 5 years, Marcia has shared her state and national network to collaborate with members of the FORUM and national entities to promote the conference, secure sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers to benefit the attendees of the annual conference as well as the fiscal bottom-line for the FORUM. She also freely shared any innovative projects, programs, services with all state subscribers offering special pricing to their networks. Moreover, Marcia has been hired by other state subscribers to utilize her expertise in program development and board leadership preparation to promote excellence within their respective states. Marcia has had a substantial impact on the National Forum.