Nursing Dept. caps Pfaff’s first year with clinical-ed agreement with FirstHealth

By Chuck Gordon

Just under a year into her tenure leading Wingate's Department of Nursing, Dr. Michele Pfaff has a full complement of faculty members, high national-exam pass rates, and a waiting list to enroll in the program.

Last week, she further strengthened the program by coming to an agreement with FirstHealth Richmond Memorial Hospital in Rockingham, N.C., that will provide more opportunities for clinical education for Wingate students.

A year ago, Pfaff would not have dreamed she'd ever have testing, hiring and partnership deals on her plate. When Kristen Barbee announced at the end of last year that she was leaving the University after leading the department since its inception in 2013, Pfaff suddenly had a decision to make. She enjoyed teaching at Wingate but had never been in charge of a department.

"It wasn't like I was looking for a promotion and I wanted to move somewhere," she says. "I was like, 'You know? I'm good. I can keep teaching until I retire.' And then this came up."

Michelle Pfaff

Pfaff was handed the reins on an interim basis in January and immediately had to fill faculty positions: hers and one more that had remained open since August of 2024. She handled those tasks and the many others that come with the directorship so well that she was offered the position permanently in June.

"When she took over, she didn't miss a beat," says Dr. Karen Friel, dean of the Levine College of Health Sciences. "She wasn't just a placeholder. She really worked on advancing the curriculum and looking at policy and procedure, making some changes and getting some strong new hires in there."

Items on Pfaff's agenda include shepherding the program through the accreditation process, taking a closer look at the curriculum, and seeking out additional clinical opportunities for students. Students do 360-390 clinical hours a year during their two years in the program, and it's not always easy to find clinical opportunities that fit in students' schedules.

The agreement with FirstHealth should help. FirstHealth and Wingate are establishing a dedicated education unit (DEU) at the hospital, which means that, starting in spring 2026, Wingate students will have priority access to clinical opportunities in the hospital. With the DEU model, an entire hospital unit teams up with a nursing school to "provide immersive, hands-on training for students," Pfaff says.

This will be the first time Wingate has used Richmond Memorial for clinical studies, and the DEU will be beneficial for both Wingate and the hospital.

"Using this facility provides a balance to our student clinical experiences, which are mainly urban and suburban, by providing unique experiences faced by rural health systems," Pfaff says. "This is a benefit to their system, as some of our graduates could then pursue employment at the facility after graduation."

Pfaff came to Wingate in 2014 after teaching at Carolinas College of Health Sciences for 12 years. She has been a nurse for 36 years and a professor for 25, the past 11 happily at Wingate. Moving into a leadership role seemed natural when the opportunity arose.

"It was like, 'Well, it is the next logical step in the progression of things,'" Pfaff says. "I'd worked for different programs. I've seen a lot of things. I've been through accreditation visits. Not that I was tired of teaching, because I still love it. But what was the next thing I could personally be challenged by?"

She has been a steady hand for a program that was already performing well. The program's pass rates are strong. Of the 29 students who graduated with a bachelor of science in nursing in May, 28 have passed the National Council Licensing Exam and are working as registered nurses. That 96.55 percent rate is well above the national average of 71.7 percent.

But challenges loom on the horizon. The program is up for reaccreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing in 2027, which means Pfaff will be busy in 2026 making sure the program is meeting standards.

There is also the issue of enrollment. For the first time in a few years, Wingate's nursing program is not only at capacity but had a waiting list this fall. In addition to a natural post-Covid rebound and a huge need for nurses nationwide, the program implemented "direct admit" a couple of years ago, giving selected students a guaranteed pathway into the program, provided they meet certain criteria. Enrollment has also been helped by an overall rise in the number of students transferring to Wingate in the past few years.

Pfaff is pleased but not ready to go to the North Carolina State Board of Nursing to try to lift the 69-student cap Wingate operates under currently.

"This is the first year we've been full," she says. "Shouldn't we give it a couple of years to see, 'Yeah, we're full, and every year our waitlist is getting longer and longer, and there's a need to up it?' I think it's too early to make that decision."

Overall, Pfaff is pleased with her first 10 months on the job.

"It's good," she says. "We've got energy, we've got enthusiasm with the students, and we've got a full house - a full house of students and a full house of faculty."

Nov. 11, 2025