Joni Tornwall, clinical professor, College of Nursing, has been awarded a 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to teach student-centered nursing practices at Kyrgyz State Medical Academy.
For her Fulbright project, “Professional Concepts and Competencies for Kyrgyz Nurses: Student-Centered Nursing Education,” Tornwall will be teaching courses to nursing students and conducting faculty development seminars from September 2025 – January 2026.
“This is a teaching-focused Fulbright project created in collaboration with my nurse-educator faculty colleagues at the Kyrgyz State Medical Academy. In addition to teaching, I aim to enhance approaches to teaching in nursing by offering faculty development seminars in instructional design and teaching strategies for nurse educators and other faculty in the health professions,” said Tornwall.
“Faculty members at Kyrgyz State Medical Academy and I share an overarching goal that aligns with Kyrgyz higher-education initiatives to educate skilled nurses who are resilient, competent, and confident, and we hope to address the critical need to prepare and sustain a strong nursing workforce in the Kyrgyz Republic.”
An objective of this Fulbright project is to support and develop the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at Kyrgyz State Medical Academy, a program that launched in autumn 2023 – the first such program in Kyrgyzstan. Tornwall provided feedback on their curriculum before the launch. In 2024, her colleagues at the academy invited her to spend the fall semester of 2025 with them as a teacher, faculty development consultant, and colleague to further enhance their approaches to teaching and learning in nursing.
"Enhancements in instructional methods, assessment processes, and advancement of local research and continuous quality improvement in nursing education are vital to the health and wellbeing of Kyrgyz citizens."
“Kyrgyz nurse educators want to strengthen their new educational framework to prepare the future nurses of Kyrgyzstan not only with practical nursing skills and scientific knowledge but also with a robust, positive sense of professional nursing identity. This Fulbright-supported collaboration will help new nurses navigate a dynamic healthcare system and persist through complex professional and sociocultural challenges,” Tornwall explained. “Enhancements in instructional methods, assessment processes, and advancement of local research and continuous quality improvement in nursing education are vital to the health and wellbeing of Kyrgyz citizens.”
Tornwall, who serves as co-director of the Academy for Teaching Innovation, Excellence, and Scholarship, was also a Fulbright U.S. Specialist in Finland in 2023 where she developed “Collaborative Approaches to Innovation and Scholarship in Nursing Education.”
Fulbright
The Fulbright Scholar Program is administered by the Institute of International Education and is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.
For more information about the Fulbright Scholar Program contact Joanna Kukielka-Blaser. View a complete list of Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program recipients.