Salina Bednarek is a nurse, educator, and leader in higher education with more than 25 years of experience as a registered nurse and nearly two decades dedicated to nursing education. She began her nursing career in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, where she developed a strong foundation in caring for patients and families experiencing complex and life-changing health conditions. Over the course of her clinical career, she became a highly specialized cardiac nurse caring for patients undergoing cardiac surgery and transplantation.
In 2007, Salina transitioned into nursing education, following her passion for teaching, connecting with others, and helping the next generation of nurses develop the knowledge, confidence, and skills needed to enter the profession. She earned her Master of Science in Nursing with an emphasis in education and later completed her Doctorate in Education. Her career in higher education has included extensive experience teaching prelicensure nursing students, developing faculty, building clinical partnerships, and leading nursing programs.
At Arizona State University, Salina previously served as the Senior Director of Prelicensure Nursing Programs, providing leadership across traditional, accelerated, and master's entry nursing programs. In that role, she gained extensive experience in program administration, faculty development, accreditation, higher education governance, clinical education, and organizational change.
Salina currently serves as Assistant Director of Clinical Faculty Development and Partnerships at ASU Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. In this role, she focuses on strengthening relationships with clinical partners to support meaningful, high-quality learning experiences for nursing students while developing and supporting clinical faculty at all stages of their educator careers. Her work brings together her experience as a clinician, educator, administrator, and clinical partner to strengthen the connection between academic and practice settings.
Salina's scholarship centers on nursing student retention, innovative clinical placement models, equity, and the implementation of high-impact practices that support student success. Across her work, she is particularly interested in identifying and systematically removing barriers that can prevent students from succeeding in nursing education. She remains passionate about developing people, strengthening nursing education, and creating meaningful connections among students, faculty, healthcare organizations, and the communities they serve.