St. John's College Faculty

Melissa Adams, PhD, MSN, RN

 Associate Professor

PhD: Capella University
MSN: Chamberlain College of Nursing
BSN: Chamberlain College of Nursing

Dr. Adams started her nursing career as a LPN. She then bridged her way to obtain the RN license and transitioned to completing her PhD in 2016. Dr. Adams graduated with her PhD in Nursing Education from Capella University. Her research was focused on student centered learning in the classroom for her dissertation. Her research interests are nursing incivility, active learning, and nursing education.

Mary Baker, DNP, MS, RN

Assistant Professor

DNP: American Sentinel College of Nursing & Health Sciences at Post University 
MS: University of Illinois Chicago
BSN: Sangamon State University
Diploma: St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing
 
Mary joined the college as full time faculty in 2015. She has over 35 years of nursing experience, with the past 20 years focused on nursing education in the college setting, as well as in the acute care setting. Mary’s specialty area is medical-surgical nursing at the intermediate care level. She also has experience in home health, transplant nursing, cardiovascular care, and neurology nursing. Her professional interests include patient education and the on-boarding process of nurses/new employees.The focus of her DNP degree was on educational leadership, with her practice-based project addressing active learning and students’ academic performances.

Cynthia Bednarchik, DNP, CNP

Adjunct Faculty

DNP, FNP: Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
MSN, FNP: Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
BSN: Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
ADN: Lincoln Land Community College

Dr. Cynthia Bednarchik is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and specializes in men's health and male infertility.  Dr. Bednarchik has been with the college since 2019.  She is a highly skilled NP with 18 years of nursing experience.

Dr. Bednarchik has authored a book chapter on men's health and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed abstracts, posters, and papers on men’s health. She has authored a book chapter on men's health and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed abstracts, posters, and papers on men’s health. She has chaired the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA) education for Advanced Practice Providers. She is also a committee member of the Illinois Urology Society (IUS)) and holds memberships in the American Urological Association (AUA), Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates (SUNA), Illinois Society of Advanced Practice Nurses (ISAPN), the American Nurse Association (ANA), the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF).

Gloria Brummer, DNP, RN, CEN, CNE

Professor

DNP: Rush University
MS: Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
BSN: University of Illinois at Springfield
Diploma: St. John's Hospital School of Nursing

Gloria Brummer, a certified nurse educator, has taught at St. John’s College for 27 years.  Her teaching experience includes online education, clinical practice, classroom, simulation and nursing laboratory settings in courses including nursing leadership, medical-surgical nursing and critical care and transition to practice. She has served on the lead team for the graduate program and contributes to college accreditation processes. Certified in emergency nursing, Gloria instructs advanced cardiac life support and has served as a trauma nurse specialist at HSHS St. John’s Hospital. Her clinical experience includes emergency, trauma and flight nursing, surgical intermediate care and ambulatory care.
 
Gloria’s research interests include inter-professional education and improving client-centered care through evidence-based practice and quality systems. She is currently a member of the Emergency Nurses Association, Illinois Organization of Nurse Leaders, American Organization of Nurse Executives, Midwest Nursing Research Society and Sigma Theta Tau.  For the past three years she has served as faculty for the Interprofessional Student Hotspotting Collaborative through Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, which is a national program that identifies individual barriers which cause over-utilization of the health care system. Gloria authored a chapter in the 2018 book, Simulation Scenarios for Nurse Educators: Making it Real, 4rd Edition, and co-authored an online learning module: Medication Safety for the Emergency Nurses Association GENE series.
 
Gloria values the opportunity to assist in the development of future professional nurses who will carry on the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis healing ministry among the complexities of today’s health care.

Bettianne Casper, MSN, RN

Assistant Professor

MSN: Kaplan University
BSN: Millikin University

Bettianne received her BSN from Millikin University (Decatur, IL) in 2008 and her MSN in Nursing Education from Kaplan University (Des Moines, IA) in 2013.  Her clinical experience includes floor nurse and charge nurse on an acute psychiatric unit.  She also completed mental health assessments for the Hospital to Home clinic at Prairie Heart Institute.

Bettianne's professional interests include mental health advocacy and education. 

Meagan Burton, MSN, RN, CNE

Assistant Professor

MSN: Walden University
BS: Western Illinois University
ADN: Spoon River College

Meagan received a Bachelor of Science degree in 2007, majoring in microbiology. She received her Associate's in Nursing in 2010 and Master's in Nursing Education in 2013. Meagan, a certified nurse educator, has taught at St. John's College since 2014. She currently teaches  Pathophysiology/Pharmacology and Community Health Nursing. Her clinical experience is in Emergency Medicine and TeleHealth Nursing. She maintains certification in ACLS and PALS.

Ife Muyiwa-Ojo, DNP, MSN-Ed, MBA, NP-C, CCRN, CNE

Associate professor

DNP: Grand Canyon University
AGNP: Maryville University
MBA: Western Govenor's University
MSN-Ed: Western Governor's University
BSN: Western Governor's University

Before going into the medical field, Ife was an information technology engineer with more than 20 years of tutoring, hardware and network engineering and database management experience. He worked with various national and international corporations, including a major internet backbone based in Atlanta Georgia.

Ife received both his Bachelor’s in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing Education from Western Governor’s University and continued to complete his Master’s in Business Administration with the same institution. He also received his Nurse Practitioner (AGNP) degree from Maryville University and a Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) from Grand Canyon University. Ife has a robust practice experience in various fields, including medical-surgical, psychiatry, telemetry and critical care. As a nursing educator, he has taught in medical surgical, health assessments, diverse populations/psychiatry, leadership and informatics/evidence-based practice both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He serves as a member of the DNP curriculum committee, Academic Affairs Committee, Chair of the BSN-RN Adhoc Committee and Chair of the College Assembly Committee. Ife also devotes his passion for student development to improving diversity, equity and inclusion in nursing education, especially for racial and gender minorities. He leads the college’s Men Engaged in Nursing organization (M.E.N.) that seeks to improve the inclusion of men in the nursing profession. He recently presented at the 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion summit.

Cheryl Pope, MSN, RN

Assistant Professor

MSN: Benedictine University
RN-BSN: Benedictine University
ADN RN: Heartland Community College
 
Cheryl joined St. John’s College of Nursing in 2019 with prior teaching at Benedictine University, Illinois Wesleyan University and as an Emergency Department Educator at HSHS St. John’s Hospital. She has vast experience in emergency and cardiac nursing, including flight nurse experience. She has more than ten years experience as a nurse educator with interest in improving nursing assessment skills, quality and safety of patients, and patient centered care with evidence-based practice and use of simulation. She specializes in assisting nurses/nursing students with learning disabilities to be successful in their careers.  Cheryl is an instructor for Trauma Nurse Specialist, Trauma Nursing Core Course (course coordinator), ABA Burns, Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Basic Life Support (BLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), School Nurse Emergency Care (SNEC) and Jumpstart/Mass Casualty Triage. She also holds a licensure as a Prehospital RN (PHRN), Trauma Nurse Specialist and Emergency Communication RN (ECRN). She is an Illinois Council Committee member for Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) and on the subcommittee for Trauma Nursing Core Course. Professional memberships include Emergency Nurses Association, American Nurses Association (ANA), American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN).

Nancy Semenza, PhD, RN

Associate professor

PhD: St. Louis University
MS: University of Illinois at Chicago
BSN: Sangamon State University
ADN: Lincoln Land Community College

A professional nurse educator since 1994, Nancy has been affiliated with St. John's College, MacMurray College, Lincoln Land Community College, and Millikin University as nursing faculty. She received her MS Degree from University of Illinois at Chicago in the Clinical Nurse Specialist Track where she also worked as a research assistant for an NIH study of 'Self Efficacy and Symptom Distress,' and her Doctorate of Philosophy degree from Saint Louis University where she completed her dissertation on 'Stress, Mood, and Bone Mass Density in Post menopausal Women,' in conjunction with an NIH funded research project at the SLU School of Medicine. Nancy has practiced in medical-surgical, psychiatric, preoperative, pharmacology, ethics, and community/public health nursing. Nancy was the founding director of the Master's program of Millikin University and currently teaches at all four programmatic levels of nursing education at St. John's College. She currently chairs the Pathway 2 Success student learning enhancement program at the College. National nursing presentations that Nancy has provided include the 125th National League of Nursing Conference in 2018 and the 2019 Annual Conference for the Higher Learning Commission. 

Judy Skelton, MSN, RNC-OB, CLC

Assistant Professor

MSN: Benedictine University
BSN: Mennonite College of Nursing

Judy has certifications in inpatient obstetrics, lactation counseling, and serves as a neonatal resuscitation instructor. She has 28 years’ experience in all areas of OB in varying roles from floor nursing to education and management. She received her BSN from Mennonite College of Nursing and her MSN in nursing education from Benedictine in 2014. Judy began at the college as adjunct faculty in 2015 in psych/geriatrics. In 2017 she began full-time and continues to do psych/geriatrics, med/surg 1 on rotation as well as OB. 

Malissa Talbert, MSN, RN, CMSRN

Adjunct Faculty

MSN: Benedictine University
BSN: Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville 
ADN: Lewis & Clark Community College

Malissa is Med/Surg certified. She has 27 years experience in Med/Surg Nursing. Malissa started at St. John's College in 2012 in Med/Surg and continues as adjunct faculty. Professional interests include Med/Surg and Geriatric Nursing.