People Group Archives: Faculty

With 17 years of experience as an emergency room nurse, including in leadership roles, Danny Hernandez has extensive knowledge of emergent and critical care. He is also keenly interested in the future of nursing education — especially the role of augmented and virtual reality — and focused on healthcare simulations while earning his MSN. Danny’s […]

Darcy Vetro Ravndal is a public health nurse practitioner with an extensive background in program development and education. She is deeply committed to advocating for quality, accessible healthcare for all children and adolescents. Ravndal served as the primary clinician at the Edgewater High School Student Health Center for 10 years and has been instrumental in […]

With over 30 years of academic, clinical, and administrative experience, she is a nationally recognized leader in interprofessional education, curricular design, and holistic nursing. Dr. Dyess is known for her solution-oriented leadership and impactful community-based participatory action research. Her work integrates caring science, human-centered design, and systems thinking to transform nursing education and promote person-centered […]

Kaylee Nettles is a double alumna of UCF, with her expertise being in bone marrow transplant and perianesthesia care. Prior to joining UCF as faculty member, she has served as a bone marrow transplant RN at AdventHealth Orlando and as pre-op/PACU RN at Orlando Regional Medical Center. She has a passion for the field of […]

Lisa Linville has held administrative, legal and clinical roles in health care systems for more than 25 years and has taught in graduate nursing programs for more than 15 years. Her legal experience includes medical malpractice, health care law and ethics and healthcare regulatory law. Linville has been an active member of the American Bar […]

Sharon Tucker, a distinguished scholar in psychiatric mental health nursing and evidence-based practice, is the dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Central Florida. Tucker joined UCF as a professor and chair of the Department of Nursing Practice in 2024. Her leadership experience spans more than two decades and includes roles at […]

Janet Lopez is a nurse scientist who is dedicated to addressing health inequities through a comprehensive approach. She focuses on developing innovative strategies to improve health outcomes for underserved communities. After completing her post-doctoral fellowship at the Veterans Rural Health Resource Center in Gainesville, Florida, she concentrated on promoting health equity among rural veteran and […]

Dr. Rebecca Koszalinski applies technological solutions to improve the health of older adults. She is the primary investigator for a Florida Department of Health funded study with a large team of investigators, including epidemiology, water, air and environmental scientists, bench and nurse scientists, and nursing students in the investigation of health outcomes of harmful algal […]

Elizabeth Torres has worked as a nurse in Central Florida for 12 years, including as a transition care curse, adult PCU nurse and OB/newborn nurse at Advent Health. Her passion for teaching led her to an adjunct role with UCF in 2021 as a clinical instructor. In 2022, she earned her MSN Family Nurse Practitioner […]

Instructor Jenny Garden has served as an operating room nurse since earning her ASN in 2001 and as a preceptor for nursing students and nurse interns since 2002. She has also served as an infection control practitioner. Garden first joined the University of Central Florida College of Nursing in 2021 as a clinical instructor and […]