New divisional dean of nursing leads with passion for education and commitment to region and partnerships

Kelley Connor has been named Boise State School of Nursing's new divisional dean, effective January 2026.

Connor, who has been a professor and held progressive leadership roles within the school since 2006, also has extensive experience with research, designing programming and with multiple healthcare institutions across Idaho - for many years, she worked as a registered nurse alongside her growing responsibilities within the university.

As the mother of young children who took part in Boise State's Children's Center, one of whom will graduate in the Bronco class of 2026, and as the wife of an adult Boise State student who now teaches at the high school level in the Treasure Valley, her multiple viewpoints inform her take on how Boise State's nursing education can become the foundation upon which the next generation builds.

Kelley Connor teaches a nursing student how to insert a needle into a manikin arm

Partnerships, relationships and the emerging voice of nursing are critical components of the school's ongoing success. Connor and dozens of alumni, many of whom are now local nurses, community and healthcare leaders and Boise State supporters, this past fall celebrated the first 70 years of the wildly popular and well-respected program.

The numbers tell the story: the school's pre-license program is on pace to grow from 400 to 500 students placed within local clinical and other training sites at any given time, with another approximately 500 RN baccalaureate completion program students and about 100 graduate students enrolled nationally. More than 10,000 students have graduated from the school over the past seven decades; grads from all decades came to the anniversary party.

Alumni and community support make a difference

Kelley Connor with Boise State nursing alumni and now faculty member Ryoko Kausler, '13 and '16, on the sidelines of the blue field

Connor credits community partners for stepping up to the needs of clinical training, and is proud of having heard from so many Broncos at the recent celebration that they love their alma mater and have taken great satisfaction from their careers - so much so that some are setting up an alumni-run group to stay connected and support the program.

"It's unusual to have that many still invested in the school and the profession," she said. "It's just such a unique connection."

More than 90 percent of graduates are offered jobs locally, and there are ripple effects; local graduates stay local and out-of-state students stay, build up their own families in the community and often persuade out-of-state family members to join them in living nearby.

Technology's place in nursing education

Tracee Chapman, Kelley Connor and Jason Blomquist - three of Boise State's School of Nursing faculty researchers in simulation and nursing educational technology - pose with a high-fidelity manikin baby.

During her long career, Connor has built a reputation as an advocate for and expert in educational technology in academic and clinical settings. She began exploring simulation years ago as a teaching tool to orient new nurses and to create practice opportunities for experienced nurses while she continued to work as a perinatal clinical educator. She helped develop the Boise State simulation program for nursing students and in 2023, while serving as the School of Nursing's director of simulation-based education and research, was inducted as a fellow into the Academy of Nursing Education.

Her areas of interest have now expanded to include virtual reality, educational gaming and mobile technology. She has participated in the development of virtual experiences for students in Second Life, vSim, and Oxford Medical Simulation and used game-based learning to improve the breastfeeding self-efficacy and breastfeeding outcomes for pregnant women. Her research dissertation involved the use of mobile health applications as a patient education tool.

As an instructor, her curricula have covered informatics, simulation education and maternity nursing; she has published and presented extensively in the areas of simulation, educational technology and maternity nursing.

Boise State and the healthcare ecosystem

Connor and her Bronco "family of educators" - including her husband the high school teacher and her daughter, the up-and-coming history teacher (her other daughter is headed toward a career as a dentist) - are critical components of the region's economic and social fabric where School of Nursing graduates are ubiquitous. Some are colleagues as Boise State instructors; others are the leaders of healthcare institutions which partner with the school and offer graduates their first career steps.

"I do see former students almost everywhere I go, which is really rewarding," she said. "They're going on and doing great things.

"I came here because I wanted to teach students; that's what I was really excited about," she said, adding that over time, "I have made a lot of connections with students who are now out in the world as professionals …

"We are part of the larger ecosystem, and we need all of it. I really do see our healthcare partners as an extension of ourselves. It all works together, and relationships are a key part of it."

The future of nursing

Kelley Connor joins Amy Spurlock, JoAnna "Jody" DeMeyer Endowed Chair for Nursing, and Angie Phillips, interim associate divisional dean for the School of Nursing, at a football game.

Connor knows intriguing opportunities have to do with the many different directions nursing is going. For example, the eICU, a relatively new setting of care for which nurses and nursing students have needed to learn new skills. New jobs are constantly springing up within the historic and well-regarded profession.

And Boise State's programming is evolving to keep the workforce out ahead and prepared; examples of newer classes and certifications developed in response to needs, with particular consideration of online and rural students, cover training and skills in such areas as vulnerable populations, solution design and policy, power and voice. Many of these topics set up students to be empowered leaders, which has not always been a priority within the broader industry.

"It gives them a process and a framework for how to go about it in the field," she said, adding that Boise State has begun sending students to annual nursing student policy summits in Washington, D.C.

"Having that voice at 20 years old, it's mind-blowing. That's how we're training our students. I think it's great.

"Nursing has been described as a sleeping giant, and it's because we haven't used our voice. I think it's important to help students learn how to use it for the people they care for and for the profession."

So many years later, Connor reflects on her own initial Boise State experience. For her, the university, college and school succeed when they strike the note they did for her two decades ago, when she first came to Idaho to teach.

"Everybody was really kind. I fell in love with it."

Of her own daughter's experience as a Bronco - and Connor may as well be speaking of bringing all her experiences to bear as dean - "It's come full circle."

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