Dr. Berry received her BSN from the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, CT in 1978, her MSN/CNS in Adult Health/Trauma from the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), in 1987 and her DNP from UAB in 2009. She is currently a tenured Professor and Undergraduate Associate Dean at the Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing (MSSON) in the College of Health Sciences at Samford University. Her clinical expertise is in the care of critically ill adult trauma and burn patients. For the first 23 years of her professional career, she worked at hospitals in New Haven, Connecticut, Washington DC and Birmingham, Alabama in a variety of bedside and administrative positions. Since 2002 she has been on the faculty at the (MSSON) and has taught Pathophysiology, Pharmacology, Principles of Critical Care, Clinical Preceptorship, Senior Seminar, Healthcare Trends and Issues, and Healthcare in the British Isles. Dr. Berry served as the Samford University Emergency Readiness Coordinator from August 2016 – June 2018. Her research interests are student success, interprofessional simulation, and emergency preparedness.

Degrees and Certifications

• DNP, advanced practice/CNS, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• MSN, adult health/trauma CNS, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• BSN, University of Bridgeport
• Certified Nurse Educator

Expertise

• Emergency Preparedness
• Trauma
• Burns
• Critical care

Awards and Honors

• Lamplighter Award – Alabama League for Nursing, 2021
• Outstanding Faculty Award - MSSON, 2018
• Cindajo Overton Excellence in Teaching Award, Alabama State Nurses Association, 2016

Involvement

• Alabama State Nurses Association
• Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society
• American Nurses Association

Recent Presentations

• Barron, A., Berry, C., & Shelton, L (2023, November). Implementation of an innovative undergraduate nursing exam review policy. 2023 NLN Summitt, Oxon Hill, MD.
• Barron, A., Berry, C., & Shelton, (2021). Differences in Undergraduate Nursing Student Exam Scores After Implementation of a New Exam Review Policy. EAC Virtual 21.

Research Areas

• Student Success
• Emergency Preparedness
• Interprofessional Simulation