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HEAD OF THE CLASS

Professor Joan Riley of the School of Nursing and Health Studies was named the 2009 District of Columbia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, which confer the honor exclusively to professors committed to undergraduate education.

“It truly is an honor and a privilege to be at Georgetown – being at a university that rewards the aspect of the whole person is truly rewarding,” Riley said.

Riley is an assistant professor in the School of Nursing and Health Studies and a family nurse practitioner at the Student Health Center. According to Riley, her experiences as a Georgetown undergraduate and the university’s commitment to cura personalis, or care of the whole person, brought her back after years spent in graduate school and in the field practicing nursing.

In her more than 35 years at Georgetown – as a student and then as a faculty member – Riley (NHS ’76) has gained a positive reputation among her peers and students.

“She is truly engaging and genuinely interested in what we are doing,” Ashwin Karanam (NHS ’13) said of Riley. “She focuses her class around us, college students, and really cares about all of us deeply.”

Aside from her educational and medical duties on campus, Riley is the faculty adviser for the Georgetown chapter of the Best Buddies program. The program pairs students and people with developmental disabilities, helping to forge friendships. She has served in this capacity for five years.

Aside from her key nursing classes, including Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Riley also teaches a first-year Health Sciences Colloquium class.

“She is a very sweet lady, who really embodies the Georgetown spirit with her care, compassion and welcoming personality,” Ismael Herrero (NHS ’13) said.

“This is my passion, teaching undergraduates,” Riley said. “The inspiration they provide me is what keeps me going every day.”