Jean Ann Wilson, long-time instructor and coordinator at the Colby Community College Norton campus, was recently selected as a volunteer item writer for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) Licensure Examination (NCLEX). 

NCSBN, headquartered in Chicago, is responsible for developing and administering the NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN licensing exams.

Wilson was approved by the Kansas Board of Nursing and selected by NCSBN to participate on the NCLEX item development panel of subject matter experts that was held in Chicago, Ill., on Sept. 8-12, 2014.

She was one of nine nurses from across the nation to be selected for this assignment.  Wilson was nominated on the basis of clinical specialty and nursing expertise.

All nurses in the United States and its four territories must take the NCLEX.  The licensing exam identifies those candidates who demonstrate minimal competence to practice nursing at the entry level.  Passing the NCLEX exam is one of the requirements necessary for attaining a nursing license.

A long-time native of Almena, Wilson received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Fort Hays State University in 1968.  She earned her Nurse Clinician Certificate from the University of Kansas Branch at Wichita State University in 1974.  She has served as a nurse clinician and office nurse as well as a staff nurse at Norton County Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital. 

She began teaching for CCC in 1980.  She continues to serve as the nursing coordinator at the Norton campus.   In recognition of her outstanding service to the nursing profession and her outstanding teaching skills, Wilson was the recipient of the Tangeman Award for Teaching Excellence in May 2012.  It is the institution’s most prestigious teaching award.

"Jean Ann Wilson is an example of why I believe that CCC has the best faculty in the state of Kansas,” CCC President Steve Vacik said. “She is as committed to her profession as she is to her students and the college.  Servant-leadership is a natural attribute for only a select few; Jean Ann, though, is one of those exceptions."