Cheryl K. Schmidt is an associate professor in the department of Nursing Education in the College of Nursing, teaching a number of essential courses in the BSN curriculum. Ms. Schmidt earned both a BSN and MS in Nursing at Ohio State University and a PhD in Nursing at the University of Pittsburgh. Her clinical areas of specialty are Community Health Nursing and Pediatric Nursing leading to ongoing research interests in nursing students' preparedness for disasters and children's body knowledge. Dr. Schmidt co-authored two HRSA grants to develop disaster preparedness education for health care providers and published articles in the American Journal of Nursing and Nurse Educator on disaster preparedness and disaster relief. Dr. Schmidt has received the Best Professional Role Model Award from senior students each year of her tenure at UAMS.