Prof. Elizabeth Sexton

Biography

Elizabeth Sexton is an assistant professor of nursing at Western Carolina University with the traditional BSN program since 2011. She teaches community/mental health nursing and coordinates the transition to practice for the last semester nursing students.<br>Prior to coming to Western Carolina University, Professor Sexton was a public health nurse in Virginia and North Carolina over an eleven-year period which included migrant health and correctional nursing. She also was involved with global health through teaching community health workers in Peru, Belize, and Haiti. She has volunteered with international medical disaster relief in Central Asia and Nicaragua. Prof. Sexton has also taught courses on health teaching and on preparing individuals to serve in health-related ministries in the developing world, has done health education with young mothers in Mexico, and from 2007 to 2019 lead health teaching teams among the Cree in Canada. In the summer of 2023 she was part of a teaching team to Bolivia working with two free clinics in training the staff on how to do health promotion and teaching in a variety of community settings. She graduated in 1981 from Emory University with a BSN and in 2011 from Western Carolina University with a MS (N) in nursing education. Prof. Sexton is a member of the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators, Nurses Christian Fellowship, and Sigma Theta Tau International.<br>Prof. Sexton is married and has two grown daughters. She enjoys walking and hiking in the WNC Mountains and at the Arboretum. She is very passionate about student engagement in service-learning projects with vulnerable populations including individuals who are experiencing homelessness and refugees. She currently resides in Arden, NC.

Education

• MSN, Western Carolina University
• BSN, Emory University

Teaching Interests

Prof. Sexton’s areas of expertise are community/public health nursing, global health, and training of community health workers. She is passionate in both the classroom and in clinical to help students gain understanding, skill, and a compassionate attitude for the most vulnerable populations including the individuals experiencing homelessness, migrant farm workers, and people living in poverty both in the USA and overseas. She is also passionate in helping students understand community health and the variety of ways they can be involved with improving the overall health of the community with a strong focus on health promotion and prevention.

Research Interests

Prof. Sexton has been involved with several IRB research projects with the homeless population including determining how to have effective health fairs and promoting flu immunization among this population. She also is interested in research in training community health workers, health promotion and prevention among diverse and vulnerable populations, issues of poverty and how this impacts overall health, and issues of health disparities and minority health.