Dr. Briggs serves as an associate professor in the School of Nursing at Western Kentucky University.  She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing (BSN) from WKU in 1996. In her senior year, she was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Dr. Briggs was employed as a registered nurse at a physical rehabilitation hospital for three years and then began serving as a school nurse manager in Warren County Public Schools.  In 2001, Dr. Briggs earned a Master of Science degree in Nursing (MSN), with an emphasis in nursing education.  Her teaching experience began as an instructor at Tennessee Wesleyan College-Fort Sanders Nursing Department in Knoxville Tennessee, where she taught Foundations, Health Assessment, and Adult Health Nursing for three years. In the fall of 2002, Crista entered a doctoral program in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences at the University of Tennessee. She was awarded an Ed.D. in the summer of 2004 with a concentration in Curriculum, Educational Research, and Evaluation. Dr. Briggs accepted a faculty position in the School of Nursing at WKU in 2004 and has taught Fundamentals of Nursing, Medical Surgical Nursing, and Cooperative Education in Nursing in the prelicensure BSN program.  In 2007, she earned the designation of Certified Nurse Educator, which is the mark of distinction for nursing faculty awarded by the National League for Nursing.  Dr. Briggs is a member of the Christian Faculty & Staff Fellowship (CFSF) at WKU and the International Association for Human Caring (IAHC).  Her research interests include pain assessment and management, spirituality in nursing, increasing empathy, and predicting student success.

 Nursing