{"id":193720,"date":"2022-10-20T13:18:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T19:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/?p=193720"},"modified":"2026-07-28T17:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:32:21","slug":"better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2022\/10\/20\/better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Better together: Humility and service drive school culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you visit the School of Nursing on any given week, you\u2019ll likely find homemade food in a break room and notice employees chatting on the balcony or in each other\u2019s offices. Potlucks and staff development workshops are a regular occurrence, and faculty often extend open invites to colleagues interested in visiting the theater or catching a hockey game together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But being \u201cbetter together\u201d is about more than just camaraderie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty remain team-focused<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no secret: research is a central part of Boise State<\/a> culture. Divisional Dean Shelle Poole and Associate Divisional Dean Amy Spurlock agree that faculty in the School of Nursing should be creative and innovative \u201cresearch superstars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Associate Divisional Dean Amy Spurlock (left) and Divisional Dean Shelle Poole (right) speak to an audience at an event earlier this month at the School of Nursing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But having faculty who are also excellent team members and mentors is equally important to the deans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spurlock has already witnessed this kind of others-focused support from the school\u2019s faculty. She recalls during one meeting when a newer faculty member boldly promoted the work of another faculty researcher who is rather quiet and humble about her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of our newer faculty knows [the other researcher\u2019s] work and she basically said, \u2018You’re really great at this, own it!\u2019\u201d Spurlock said. \u201cIt was just so great to see them lifting each other up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this wasn\u2019t a one-time occurrence. These same faculty frequently celebrate each other\u2019s successes. You can even find them on Twitter together, retweeting one another and virtually cheering on their colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greatness: The limit does not exist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The School of Nursing\u2019s thriving culture<\/a> is actually rather counter-cultural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally speaking, academic settings are very competitive as scholars strive toward great achievement. Unfortunately, what starts as a healthy incentive to work hard and produce results often crosses the line to cutthroat antagonism between colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Spurlock explained that the School of Nursing\u2019s employees don\u2019t hold to the old idea that \u201cif I\u2019m great you have to be bad,\u201d as if there\u2019s a finite amount of greatness to go around. Instead, she said it\u2019s more like \u201ca rising tide lifts all boats\u201d \u2013 that is, if one individual thrives, the whole school benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poole affirms that there\u2019s \u201cenough greatness for all of us to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff eagerly lend a helping hand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For staff members, being \u201cbetter together\u201d means having a ready willingness to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a workshop this past May, School of Nursing staff discussed ways they could make workloads easier for one another, especially during the adult gerontology nurse practitioner summer intensive. This is the annual week of on-campus classes for advanced practice nursing students, and it\u2019s no small feat to pull off a smooth session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So one staff member suggested they create an easy way to ask each other for help. Enter the \u201cS.O.S.\u201d chat space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Google chat space is specifically for any staff member in need of a helping hand (hence naming it \u201cS.O.S.\u201d). This could be anything from carrying groceries up to the break room or seeking the technical skills of someone more well-versed in spreadsheets than yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Candice
Senior business operations manager Candice Johnson (center) spoke about school-wide process improvements at an event earlier this fall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And the S.O.S. chat has already outlived the summer intensive session to become a part of everyday activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe team was excited for this idea,\u201d said Candice Johnson, senior business operations manager at the School of Nursing. \u201cIt really has been a wonderful addition to our daily work responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The staff are eager to help carry one another\u2019s burdens, and the S.O.S. chat created a dedicated space where they know assistance is never more than a message away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better employees for better nurses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBetter together\u201d is not just a nice phrase that guides school culture; it\u2019s an operating system in which every School of Nursing employee knows they have the support of one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the supportive culture overflows to students too. The nurses of the future now have evidence they don\u2019t have to be on their own in order to succeed in the workplace. The School of Nursing sets an example of a healthy workplace team, proving that selfless teamwork really does benefit everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you visit the School of Nursing on any given week, you\u2019ll likely find homemade…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3526,"featured_media":193725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4047,361],"tags":[4060,4046,4057,4059],"class_list":["post-193720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-son","tag-better-together","tag-culture","tag-nursing-faculty","tag-staff"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBetter together: Humility and service drive school culture - School of Nursing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"'Better together' isn't like the old idea that \u201cif I\u2019m great you have to be bad,\u201d as if there\u2019s a finite amount of greatness to go around.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2022\/10\/20\/better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Better together: Humility and service drive school culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you visit the School of Nursing on any given week, you\u2019ll likely find homemade food in a break room and notice employees chatting on the balcony or in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2022\/10\/20\/better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"School of Nursing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BoiseStateSON\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-20T19:18:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-28T23:32:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2022\/10\/NursingShowcase_052-sq664.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katherine Denagy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BoiseStateNurse\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BoiseStateNurse\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katherine Denagy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/nursing\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/20\\\/better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/nursing\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/20\\\/better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katherine Denagy\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/nursing\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0ff5e5de1dadcc984dc81b9a0f9e5162\"},\"headline\":\"Better together: Humility and service drive school culture\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-20T19:18:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-28T23:32:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/nursing\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/20\\\/better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":736,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/nursing\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/20\\\/better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/nursing\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/81\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/NursingShowcase_052-sq664.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Better Together\",\"culture\",\"nursing faculty\",\"staff\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\",\"SON\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/nursing\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/20\\\/better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.boisestate.edu\\\/nursing\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/20\\\/better-together-humility-and-service-drive-school-culture\\\/\",\"name\":\"Better together: Humility and service drive school culture - 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