Submission Deadline: 9-March
Applicants will be notified 23-March

The ALSN column editor is our liaison to the Journal of Nursing Administration (JONA). The column editor coordinates the development and timely submission of the ALSN Perspectives quarterly column. This position requires attention to detail to ensure all submissions are well-written; bridge both the ALSN mission and the JONA mission; address topics of interest to the JONA readers; and are formatted according to the ALSN Perspectives column journal guidelines. The ALSN Perspectives JONA column editor will also serve as a facilitator between authors and JONA, supporting them through the publication process.

Qualifications for this position include a record of publications in peer-reviewed journals; willingness to connect with thought leaders in ALSN to develop JONA columns; ability to meet deadlines as set by JONA; and membership in ALSN for at least five years. The ideal candidate will have expertise in nursing leadership science and hospital operations, a significant publication record in JONA and history of serving as a peer reviewer for JONA. The column editor will be appointed by the ALSN board of directors, work under the direction of the ALSN Director of Communications, and must be approved by the Editor-in-Chief of JONA.

Responsibilities:

The column editor

1. Serves as the primary point of contact between the JONA editorial staff and the ASLN Communications Committee. The column editor receives the column submission due dates and coordinates the submission process with the column authors to ensure on-time submission of ALSN columns.
2. Determines quarterly column topics in collaboration with the ALSN Director of Communications. The ALSN Director of Communications will report monthly to the board of directors on the topics and authors for the column.
3. Reviews and approves the column from the authors prior to submission. If the article is not ready for publication, the column editor returns the column to the authors with revisions needed.
4. Updates the ALSN members of published columns through the monthly electronic newsletter.

Application Process:

Please submit the following:

1. A short paragraph expressing your interest and highlighting your specific qualifications (Limit: 300 words)
2. A list of your scholarly publications—highlighting those as first author and those published in JONA
3. A published manuscript
4. Focused Curriculum Vitae (Limited to 10 pages)

Applications must be received by 9-March.
Applicants will be notified 23-March.

Nurse Leader As Coach: Creating High Performance Teams

Nurse Leader as Coach reframes leadership for today’s complex healthcare environment. Drawing on evidence and real-world practice, this presentation explores how nurse leaders can shift from directive management to a coaching mindset that builds trust, resilience, and high-performing teams. Participants will learn core coaching competencies—deep listening, powerful questioning, and curiosity—and how these skills improve engagement, reduce burnout, and strengthen outcomes for staff and patients alike. Practical tools and examples demonstrate how coaching can be embedded into daily leadership practice, even in high-pressure clinical settings.

This event is co-sponsored by NOBC

ALSN & NOBC are committed to designing educational opportunities to prepare nurses for boardroom success, ensuring they are equipped to influence decision-making and drive meaningful change.

Learner Objectives

1. Describe how adopting a coaching mindset shifts nurse leadership from directive management to relational, inquiry-based practice that supports engagement, resilience, and high-performing teams.
2. Apply core coaching competencies—such as deep listening, powerful questioning, and curiosity—to everyday leadership interactions to reduce burnout and strengthen staff and patient outcomes.

Presenter

Susan Hassmiller, RN, PhD, FAAN; SuLu Coaching and Consulting; Cary, North Carolina

Dr. Susan Hassmiller is a national leader in nursing, health equity, teamwork, and leadership development. She spent 25 years at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, serving as Senior Adviser for Nursing and Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the National Academy of Medicine, where she helped lead the landmark Future of Nursing reports (2010; 2020–2030). A member of the National Academy of Medicine and a Living Legend of the American Academy of Nursing, she has received numerous honors and lifetime achievement awards, 5 honorary doctorates and the Florence Nightingale Medal from the International Red Cross. She is Professor of Nursing at Florida State University and founder/CEO of Sulu Coaching and Consulting.

Nursing CE

This event is approved for Nursing CE with the California Board of Nursing.

Registration

• ALSN & NOBC Members: $25
• Non-Members: $35
• Not a Member? Click here to join, then sign up for the webinar at the member rate.

Cancellation

No refund due to cancellation. All registrants will have access to a video archive if you are unable to attend in person.

1. Nurses’ health, well-being, resiliency, and safety in the workplace
2. Developing and managing a nursing workforce to meet current and future healthcare needs
3. Healthy work and practice environments for direct care nurses
4. Healthy work and practice environments for nurse leaders
5. Quantification of nursing’s value across the healthcare delivery system
6. Nurse leaders’ development and essential competencies

A Delphi study conducted by the ALSN and American Organization of Nursing Leadership (AONL) Foundation unveiled key areas where nurse leaders lacked evidence to inform their decision-making during the pandemic: resiliency, trust, leader visibility, the role of the leader in disaster planning, and strategies for leading in crisis.2 Respondents identified the need for designing and testing innovations that leaders and organizations adopted, such as new care models, staffing models, and cross-training practices.² Findings of this study also revealed a need for nursing leadership science to move beyond descriptive research toward interventional research to understand what works, for whom, and under what conditions.³ These challenges and needs continue. Pilot studies are an essential foundation for advancing interventional research.

One grant will be awarded:

• One $10,000 (US Dollars) award funded by the ALSN Research Fund.

SUBMISSION DUE DATE: May 15, 2026, 11:59 pm Central Time

Eligibility:

• Applicants must be ALSN members, in good standing, and up-to-date with their membership dues.
• Open to researchers with a strength in nursing leadership science or novice researchers, including PhD students, interested in nursing leadership science who will be mentored by an experienced researcher.
• ALSN Board Members are not eligible to apply.
• ALSN Research Committee members who apply will be excluded from the review process.
• Not eligible to apply for grant if received an ALSN pilot Research Award grant in the past 3 years.

Requirements:

• Research must be completed within 18 months, with findings that are used to develop a larger study grant application.
• Recipients must agree to present at the 2027 or 2028 ALSN conference.
• All Institutional Review Board approvals must be received prior to release of funds.

Allowable Expenses:

• Salary support/consultant fees for research assistants, statistical analysis, or consultants
• Participant incentives
• Interview transcription services
• Conference registration and travel support to ALSN conference up to 10% of research budget
• Instrument licenses
• Supplies (not hardware or computers)
• Other things such as printing, postage, and materials that are needed for the research

Prohibited Expenses:

• University facilities and administrative fees
• Principal Investigator salary
• Computers/Hardware
• Travel to conferences other than ALSN

Notification of Award:

• Recipients will be notified in August 2026.
• The award recipient will be recognized on the ALSN website and at the annual conference.

Funding:

• Fifty percent of the grant will be disbursed in September 2026, contingent upon receiving documentation confirming Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. Funds will be disbursed only upon IRB approval, no earlier than September 2026.
• The remaining 50% will be awarded after a mid-grant Interim Review or upon need-based petition by the Grantee.
• Payments will be made in US Dollars.

Application:

Applicants MUST adhere to the following guidelines. If guidelines are not followed or submitted after the deadline, the application will not be reviewed.

• Grant applications must be submitted electronically. Click here to submit. Submit the complete grant application as a two (blinded and non-blinded) electronic Microsoft Word documents to the designated ALSN website – No Exceptions. The non-blinded submission must include all documents for the grant, including the cover letter, research plan, references, appendices, curriculum vitae, letter of support etc. While the blinded submission must include the research plan, references, appendices etc. The research plan should not exceed six single-spaced pages, not including the cover page, reference list, and appendices, and must adhere to formatting guidelines: 0.5-inch margins and an 11-point font in Times New Roman or Arial.
• Cover Letter
• Project Title
• Investigator(s) name, title, department, affiliation(s), address, phone, and email address

Research Plan (6 pages max)

• Purpose of the project: including research question(s)/hypothesis and/or aim(s)
• Background and significance: Describe the most significant and current state of the research in this field of study. Articulate the study’s relevance to the ALSN research priority areas.
• Innovation: Describe how this study is innovative, how it will advance the field of leadership science, and the potential for future research.
• Methods:
• • Theoretical framework (if appropriate)
  • Research design
  • Sample and setting
  • Data collection, including measures
  • Data analysis
  • Methodological rigor – reliability/validity for quantitative studies, or trustworthiness for qualitative studies
• Plans for Protection of Human Subjects
• Plans for Dissemination and Future Study: Clearly articulate how the findings from this pilot study will be disseminated, e.g., presentation venue(s) and publications, and used to inform a larger, follow-up study. Indicate specific funder(s) you plan to submit the larger proposal and preliminary plans for the project.
• Projected Timeline for accomplishing the plan of action
• Detailed Budget and brief budget justification

Additional pages to be included:

• A list of references cited in the proposal
• Appendix with instrument(s) and/or interview guide(s) to be used in the study
• Proof of author permission for use of proposed instruments
• Brief (up to 5 pages) Curriculum Vitae (may use federal forms, such as the NIH biosketch form) for each investigator
• Identification of any other funding sources for this project
• Letter of support from the organization where research will be conducted

Review Criteria:

• Applications will be evaluated based on alignment with the ALSN research priority areas, study significance, methods, feasibility, budget, and potential for future funding.
• It is the researcher’s responsibility to present the proposal in a clear and logical fashion, to make a convincing case for the significance and the ability to secure future funding, and to present sufficient detail about the research plans so that an adequate evaluation of the proposal can be made.

Questions:

• For questions, contact Dr. Linda Roussel and Dr. Lisa Hedenstrom, Co-Chairs of the Pilot Grants Review Committee.

ALSN-funded Investigator Responsibilities: Research award recipients are required to:

1. Obtain IRB approval prior to conducting the research and file a copy of that approval with the ALSN Research Committee Chairperson.
2. Conduct the research as proposed.
3. Manage their budgets and expend the grant funds in accordance with the proposed budget and grant guidelines.
4. Submit progress report by May 1, 2027.
5. Submit final grant report at the end of the project or by February 1, 2028. ALSN strongly encourages publishing study findings to advance nursing knowledge. The final report should include a manuscript draft, a crucial first step toward publication.
6. Present findings to date (poster presentation or completed study as podium presentation) at the 2027 or 2028 ALSN Conference.
7. Awardees will acknowledge the ALSN Research Fund as appropriate as funding source on all publications and presentations related to the study.

References

1. Chipps EM, Joseph ML, Alexander C, et al. Setting the research agenda for nursing administration and leadership science: A delphi study. J. Nurs. Adm. 2021;51(9):430-438.
2. Hand MW, Alexander C, Lyman B, Parchment J, Joseph ML, Chipps E. Filling the knowledge gap for nurse leaders: Next steps following Covid-19. Nurse Leader. 2021.
3. Joseph ML, Nelson-Brantley HV, Alexander C, et al. Building the science to guide nursing administration and leadership decision making. J. Nurs. Adm. 2022;52(1):19-26.

Call for Applications
Rising Star in Scholarly Writing Award

Submit your Application

The Association for Leadership Science in Nursing (ALSN) is pleased to invite applications and nominations for the 2026 Rising Star in Scholarly Writing Award. This annual award recognizes an ALSN member who is an emerging author and contributes to the science of nursing leadership. The award will be presented at the 2026 International ALSN Conference.

Submission Deadline: June 30, 2026

Eligibility Criteria:

1. The applicant must be a current ALSN member
2. Previous recipients of this award are not eligible.
3. The applicant must be the first author of the article.
4. The journal article must be searchable in library databases and have been published or made available electronically ahead of print between June 2022 and June 2026.
5. The applicant must not have been the primary author of more than three peer-reviewed articles in the last five years.
6. The article should demonstrate the applicant's potential and promise in their emerging body of work.

Each application must be submitted in PDF format and including the following:

1. Applicant’s curriculum vitae, including a list of all publications.
2. Personal statement (1 page or less): A concise description addressing:
   • How the article provides significant new insights into nursing leadership research, practice, and/or education.
   • How the article presents innovative approach or its contribution to solving an important challenge relevant to nursing leadership.
     
     Important Notes for Submission: Your personal statement is not the same as your article abstract. Your personal statement should describe what is unique about your work and/ or explain what your work specifically adds to the current body of literature. If applicable, you might also describe how your work is being used in practice or education. The personal statement must be written by the applicant.
3. PDF Copy of the single journal article that most reflects the nominee’s contribution. Submissions with more than one article will be rejected.

Applications must be submitted in electronic format, consisting of a single PDF containing items #1-2, plus item #3 a separate PDF of the article.

Call for Applications
Suzanne Smith Memorial Scholarly Writing Award

Submit your Application

The Association for Leadership Science in Nursing (ALSN) is pleased to invite applications for the 2026 Suzanne Smith Memorial Scholarly Writing Award. This annual award recognizes excellence in scholarly writing by an ALSN member that advances the science of nursing leadership. The award will be presented at the at the 2026 International ALSN Conference.

Submission Deadline: July 31, 2026

Eligibility Criteria:

1. The applicant must be a current ALSN member.
2. Previous recipients of this award are not eligible.
3. The applicant must be the first author of the article.
4. The journal article must have been published (or made available electronically ahead of print) between June 2022 and June 2026 and must be searchable in library databases.
5. The article should align with the applicant’s broader body of scholarly work.

Each application must be submitted in PDF format and including the following:

1. Applicant’s curriculum vitae, including a list of all publications.
2. Personal statement (1 page or less):
   • A concise description addressing:
   1. How the article provides significant new insights into nursing leadership research, practice, and/or education.
   2. How the article presents innovative approach or its contribution to solving an important challenge relevant to nursing leadership.
      
      Important Notes for Submission: Your personal statement is not the same as your article abstract. Your personal statement should describe what is unique about your work and/ or explain what your work specifically adds to the current body of literature. If applicable, you might also describe how your work is being used in practice or education.
3. PDF Copy of the single journal article that most reflects the applicant’s contribution. Submissions with more than one article will be rejected.

Applications must be submitted in electronic format, consisting of a single PDF containing items #1-2, plus item #3 a separate PDF of the article.

The ALSN Suzanne Smith Memorial Scholarly Writing Award honors Suzanne P. Smith EdD, RN, FAAN, a respected member of the nursing community for her extensive contributions. Perhaps best known for her scholarly contributions on education and leadership, Suzanne served as editor-in-chief of two nursing journals, The Nurse Educator and until 2011, The Journal of Nursing Administration published by Wolters Kluwer Health / Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Dr. Smith also made significant contributions to many books and was an important leader within the International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE). She was also committed to helping nurses to get their work published, especially those who have not been published.

Suzanne loved New England (she was originally from Worcester, Massachusetts) and was excited to welcome INANE to her home region. INANE is an international collaborative, a collective of nursing editors and publishers focused on meeting the practice, research, and education needs of the nursing profession. Established in 1982, the group has organized an annual conference every year since, all without a formal organizational structure. Their primary mission is to promote best practices in publishing and high standards in nursing literature.

Dr. Smith wrote about the importance of the evolution of nursing education to meet the needs of an evolving healthcare system. Renowned for her work on organizational transformation, process-centered healthcare, and leadership, she served as a mentor for aspiring authors, educators, and nurse leaders, particularly those seeking publication for the first time. Dr. Smith led by example and set a high standard for nurse editors, authors, educators, and leaders. In 2011, Suzanne was recognized for her contributions to the global nursing and healthcare community when she received the prestigious President's Specialty Recognition Award from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Dr. Suzanne Smith lived her life dedicated to her passion for nursing, leaving an indelible mark on countless lives and careers. She touched many lives and shaped many careers, from students, to editors, to educators, to administrators. Her legacy will be one filled with inspiration, dedication, and fortitude. Suzanne believed each of us has the power to transform healthcare organizations, education, and the nursing profession.

This award is given in Suzanne’s memory to recognize excellence in scholarly writing by an ALSN member that advances the knowledge of nursing leadership science. This award is given yearly at the International ALSN Conference.