A nursing professor who has grown Longwood’s department into an accomplished, competitive program and who is beloved by her students has been recognized by the Commonwealth with its highest award for faculty work at its public and private colleges and universities.
Dr. Kim Little, professor of nursing and department chair of the program, received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia for her work inside and out of the classroom. Just 12 professors from across the Commonwealth received the award from more than 80 institutional nominations.
The awards, announced Monday, recognize superior accomplishments in teaching, research, and public service. Little joins previous SCHEV honorees from Longwood: Dr. Amorette Barber (2019), Dr. Melanie Marks (2006), and Dr. Jim Jordan (1992).
Little joined the Longwood faculty in 2018 after leading Liberty University’s master’s-level program in nursing. Her impact was felt immediately, as she implemented data-gathering initiatives to inform decision-making and created a new role within the department to identify and support at-risk students early in their college career. These steps and others transformed the young department, and six of the last nine cohorts of nursing program graduates have achieved a 100% pass rate on their initial licensure exam, an accomplishment few four-year programs can boast.
I love teaching and helping our students grow into professional nurses to have an impact on their communities. Being recognized for that is a real joy.
Dr. Kim Little Tweet This
“This is an incredible and unexpected honor,” said Little, who in addition to teaching sits on the Centra Southside Community Hospital Board of Directors and is an accreditation evaluator for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. “I love teaching and helping our students grow into professional nurses to have an impact on their communities. Being recognized for that is a real joy. The nursing department at Longwood is one of the best in the Commonwealth, and its success is due in large part to the wonderful team of educators around me who support each other and share a focus on student success.”
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Little often involves her students in work outside the classroom. During the Covid-19 pandemic, nursing students joined Little at clinics on campus and at Centra Southside Hospital to administer thousands of vaccines to the community. In 2024, students traveled with her to an underserved region of remote Guatemala and provided service to those who had no other access to care.
On a separate flight home from a student experience in Ireland, Little and her colleague Lisa Minor, associate professor of nursing, saved the life of a fellow flight passenger who was having a cardiac event in the cabin. Little’s nursing students helped her spring into action to administer nitroglycerin and an IV until the plane could make an emergency landing.
“I strive to empower anyone with whom I come into contact,” wrote Little in a statement that accompanied the nomination. “Whatever the case or the setting, it is my belief that we should be empowered and we should empower those around us. Knowledge within me is meant to be shared and given freely so that others may benefit and grow to their maximum.”
One of Little’s recent projects engages nursing faculty members in offering sports physicals free of charge to public middle and high-school students. Little wrote the grant that secured funding for equipment to conduct the examinations.
Her desire to be an excellent servant leader extends beyond classroom and clinical settings and is truly a thread in the fabric of her life.
Dr. Larissa Smith, provost and vice president for academic affairs Tweet This
“Dr. Kim Little excels as a teacher, scholar, and practitioner. She is truly dedicated to Longwood’s mission of developing citizen leaders,” said Dr. Larissa Smith, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Her desire to be an excellent servant leader extends beyond classroom and clinical settings and is truly a thread in the fabric of her life.”
Little has also received the Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurse Educators in 2011, was a 2015 finalist for the March of Dimes Virginia Nurse Educator of the Year and received Longwood’s top faculty honor, the Simpson Distinguished Professorship, in 2022. She graduated from Lenoir-Rhyne University, Gardner-Webb University, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. She also holds a post-Master’s certificate for Nurse Practitioner from Vanderbilt University.
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