Faculty Highlights

Dr. Martin was recently selected to serve on the American Assocaition of Nurse Anesthetist's Wellness Committee. We also named her as Assistant Program Director for Didactic Instruction for the Nursing Anesthesia Program. Dr. Martin is a current fellow for the Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Nurse Anesthesia Educator Program. She is also first author on a manuscript detailing her dissertation research that has been accepted for publication in the AORN Journal (Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses). This August (2025) she will be presenting at the AANA Annual Congress. Her podium presentation will be, "Stop Stigma Before Stigma Stops Someone You Know from Getting Help." Sharing her expertise with future CRNAs, she recently appeared on AANA's national Grade 1 View podcast. She is also a co-host on the Airway Exchange podcast, a joint effort by Beyond The Mask Podcasts and the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology.

Heather Hall is the Nurse Educator on our Athens Campus. She is uniquely responsible for the equipment and supplies for simulation and lab activities on the campus. Her efforts reflect a commitment to a safe and effective learning environment for students. She loves having the opportunity to work with small groups of students to overcome some of the challenges of nursing school and ensure students have the skills necessary to care for the community when they graduate. She is currently a class of 2028 PMHNP-DNP student. Recently, she passed her Certified Healthcare Simulation Operations Specialist exam.

Dr. Glenn is on tenure track with a joint appointment in the Graduate School and in the Institute of Public and Preventive Health. She is an avid diabetes researcher, serving on the advisory board for the American Diabetes Association's Advisory Board. Recently, she represented the Georgia Center for Diabetes Translational Research as an invited panelist for Emory Global Diabetes Research Center's DiaTech Demo Day. She is participating in multiple funded projects and was even named as the 2021 Augusta University College of Nursing Researcher of the Year.

Dr. Marin serves as an associate professor in our department of nursing science. She holds three different distinguished fellowships: Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and Fellow of the National Academies of Practice. “Being inducted as a distinguished fellow in the NAP is a great honor and will provide me with an enormous opportunity to further my interdisciplinary growth, and to form partnerships to advance significant research findings into nationally adopted policy,” Marin stated in 2023. Marin is a renowned neonatal nurse practitioner, receiving two awards for her contribution to neonatal research. Notably, she recently published “Routine Diaper Change Alters Kidney Oxygenation in Premature Infants: A Non-A Priori Analysis.” Marin received the 2023 Distinguished Alumni award from the State University of New York as is currently serving as an editor for the Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing. Recently, she was recognized as Outstanding PhD Faculty for 2025 at The Graduate School's Scientific Integrity Ceremony. Marin is an excellent example of the importance of scholarship and research to the nursing profession, and we are proud to have her as a mentor for our PhD students.

Dr. Cromer serves as a professor, the APRN clinical coordinator, and the Director of the Interdisciplinary Costa Layman Community Health Outreach Programs for the College of Nursing. Dr. Cromer is a pillar in the community due to her leadership and work with events such as the Costa Layman Health Fair, the Costa Layman Women’s Clinic, and the various resources provided through the Healthy Grandparents Program. She is a proud alumna of Augusta University, earning her DNP from the Medical College of Georgia. Her exemplary work is consistently highlighted through awards including the 2024 Excellence in Service-Learning Faculty Award, College of Nursing E. Louisa Grant Distinguished Alumna (2017), AANP Nurse Practitioner State Award of Excellence (2016), and her Excellence in Published Writing award (2017). She continues to give back to our college though her Endowed Scholarship, the Marion, Cromer, Layman Clinical Nurse Leader Scholarship. Recently, she was invited as a panelist to represent FNP programs nationwide. Their work, of which she was a co-author, was recently published in the Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal. You can find it under "Crosswalk Analysis of Existing Nurse Practitioner Populations and Emergency Nurse Practitioner Competencies."

With joint appointments in the College of Nursing, The Graduate School, and serving as elected college faculty senate chair, Dr. McKinnon is incredibly involved in the success of the university. She is currently funded through HRSA and recently authored a chapter on substance abuse for an awarded textbook. As PMHNP Program Coordinator, she helped lead the program's largest graduating cohort of mental health professionals. She was recently approved as the newest member of the Board of Directors for Next Steps Forward, a non-profit organization based in Aiken that provides support for adolescent survivors of human trafficking by connecting them with equine-assisted learning facilities. This opportunity allows her to contribute her immense expertise in pediatric mental health.