Susan E. Young
Assistant Professor
Dr. Susan Young joined the UNCW School of Nursing in 2020. She received her BSN from Florida Gulf Coast University and began her career working as a staff nurse in a hospital obstetrics unit. She also served as a Quality Improvement Coordinator at a safety-net provider in a migrant community in Florida and worked as a Newborn/Postpartum Home Visitor and later Clinical Services Section Director at a local health department in NC. She graduated from the PhD program at UNC Chapel Hill in 2012, earned a Graduate Certificate in Global Health from the Gillings School of Public Health, and is board certified in Advanced Public Health Nursing. She was an Assistant Professor in Nursing at Florida Gulf Coast University prior to joining UNCW faculty and is a co-lead and founding member of the UNCW Well-being and Resilience Collaborative.
Education
BSN, Florida Gulf Coast University
PhD in Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduate Certificate in Global Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Specialization in Teaching
Dr. Young has taught across the Prelicensure, RN-BSN, and DNP programs since coming to UNCW. She co-developed new Nursing Research (Prelicensure) and Population Health (DNP) courses . She is focused on teaching in the DNP program where her experience and expertise in quality improvement and administration are utilized to lead students in leadership skill development, as well as quality improvement and evidence-based project implementation. She also contributed to development of the DNP Project 3-course series, and along with colleagues, has presented and published articles on this innovative School of Nursing's DNP Project workload structure, process, and dissemination products.
Research Interests
Dr. Young's research is supported by internal and external grants and includes developing strategies and interventions to support the well-being and mental health of nurses and nursing students at the individual, population, and organizational levels. She has also studied rural community-based collaborative efforts to reach the Hispanic population during the pandemic and factors that contribute to Hispanic nurses’ resilience. She has presented at regional, statewide, national, and international conferences and published manuscripts in a variety of professional journals.
Professional Service
Dr. Young served as the President of the local chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing at Florida Gulf Coast University and served on the Board of the southeastern North Carolina/UNCW Nu Omega chapter of Sigma from 2023-2025. She is also the Faculty Coordinator for the Iwate Prefecture University, Japan/UNCW Schools of Nursing Academic Partnership.