College of Nursing’s Walters chosen for highly selective program with NLN

Colleen Walters, DNP, an associate professor and director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program in Augusta University’s College of Nursing, has been selected for the National League for Nursing 2026 LEAD program.

LEAD, which was founded in 2011, is designed for nurses in education and practice who have recently been challenged with rapid transition into leadership positions, those already in positions of leadership who want formal leadership development and others who identify as emerging leaders or have leadership aspirations.

“Dr. Walters has continued to be steadfast in her leadership within the college and organizations beyond. She is an incredible nurse with a passion and immense skills for education and collaboration,” said CON Dean Beth NeSmith, PhD. “Her experience as a family nurse practitioner further informs her scholarship and community engagement efforts abroad. Our college is fortunate to have her expertise, dedication and skill.”

The 2026 NLN LEAD group consists of 26 nurse educators chosen from colleges, universities and health care institutions. The yearlong initiative of NLN Leadership Institute in the NLN Center for Transformational Leadership will be under the direction of NLN Chief Program Officer Gordon Gillespie, PhD. It represents a significant investment in professional leadership development with participants spending a calendar year engaged in activities identifying personal and professional goals, learning about what makes an effective leader, and strategizing how to retool skill sets and experiences to achieve individual and institutional benchmarks.

Walters is the current president of the Georgia Association of Nurse Educators and serves as a member of the United Advanced Practice Registered Nurses of Augusta and the Georgia Nursing Leadership Coalition. She graduated from AU with her DNP degree and earned her Master of Science in Nursing from Clayton College and State University.

She provides health services to vulnerable populations locally and internationally, initiating projects to improve health outcomes and enhance student learning. She continues her advocacy for maternal health on a state-funded grant to improve access to care coordination and remote maternal health monitoring in Georgia. Her most recent efforts can be found in Nursing Education Perspectives and the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing.

“I am honored and humbled to be chosen by the National League for Nursing to participate in LEAD to strengthen my leadership skills alongside other outstanding nursing leaders from all over the United States,” Walters said. “I am excited about executive coaching, mentoring, leadership project deliverable, leadership trajectory planning, networking and the multiple leadership assessments that have been built into the program. I appreciate the support of the CON and AU in making my participation possible.”

At AU, Walters has been recognized with the AU Service Award, the AU Teamwork Award and Nurse Clinician of the Year. In 2024, she was selected to the Provost Faculty Fellows program. As a fellow, she was tasked with working on university-wide projects, initiatives and strategies related to the academic enterprise, providing her with leadership experience for her future as an academic administrator and leader. She continues to pursue her passion for community engagement service learning, accompanying DNP students to Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, and most recently, rural Scotland.

“As the leading voice of nursing education, the National League for Nursing provides cutting edge professional development to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce,” said NLN Chair Yolanda VanRiel, PhD. “The selection of another outstanding LEAD cohort to participate in the 2026 Leadership Institute demonstrates our ongoing commitment to advance the standing of nurse leaders within today’s complex and dynamic health care environment, and to influence policy and excellence in practice.”