Jean Giddens, N’81, PhD, FAAN

2012 Distinguished Nursing Alumna

Jeaan Giddens, Ph.d, graduated from the KU School of Nursing in 1981 and

since that time has continued on a stellar career path as a nurse and a nurse educator. She is a nationally-recognized leader in using innovative technology and conceptual approaches for nursing education.

Giddens grew up in Westwood, Kan., just a few blocks away from KU Medical Center. Her father, John D. Foret, M.D., spent his entire career with the Department of Surgery at KU Medical Center. Her mother is a retired nurse who also worked for a brief time at KU Medical Center. Giddens was a standout athlete growing up, but decided that athletics was not a viable career path. So she decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and was accepted to the KU School of Nursing.

Her first job out of nursing school was working in the emergency department at Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Lawrence, Kan. After a couple of years, she moved to New Mexico and worked as an emergency department nurse in Roswell.  She also volunteered to serve as a preceptor to nursing students when they did their rotations in the emergency department. This experience was the impetus for Giddens to move into the next phase of her career as a nurse educator.

After filling in for a nursing instructor who was on medical leave, Giddens was asked by the director of the nursing school in Roswell to stay on as a full-time faculty member in a permanent position. Giddens completed her master’s degree in nursing while teaching full-time and graduated in 1986. She went on to work as a nurse educator at the University of New Mexico, the University of Texas in El Paso and  Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Col., before returning to the University of New Mexico in 2002.

While at the University of New Mexico, Giddens developed a virtual community called “The Neighborhood” which is now used by nursing programs throughout the country. The platform helps nursing students better understand the complex world of health care, particularly community-based health care. She has also contributed to other technologies that assist student learning, including the nurse content map creator, which is used to organize and link information about a patient's health conditions.

Giddens is a strong proponent of life-long learning for nurses. She is a leader when it comes to promoting a concept-based curriculum for nursing, which alleviates information overload and fosters a better overall understanding through active learning and application. Giddens also worked with KU School of Nursing educators as the school went through the process of updating its curriculum last year.

Giddens has been married to husband Jay Corazza since 1997. They have four grown children and two grandchildren.

It is with great pride that the KU Nurses Alumni Association bestows its 2012 Distinguished Alumna Award to Jean Giddens.