UMass Dartmouth Nursing Professor Kiley Medeiros receives Manning Prize for teaching excellence

Award recognizes exemplary teaching and service across five UMass campuses.

UMass Dartmouth College of Nursing and Health Sciences Clinical Assistant Professor Kiley Medeiros is the recipient of the 2021 Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Medeiros was chosen for her commitment and passion for Nursing education. The faculty members — one from each of the five UMass campuses — will receive $10,000 awards in recognition of their exceptional teaching and commitment to their students.

UMass Lowell alumni Robert and Donna Manning established the Manning Prize in 2016 to honor UMass professors who excel in teaching and service. With the selection of this year’s honorees, 30 UMass faculty members have now been recognized with the Manning Prize since it was created in 2016.

“We are thrilled to recognize these five faculty members whose talents and passion for teaching help make UMass a national model of excellence,” said Robert Manning, a 1984 graduate of UMass Lowell and chairman of the UMass Board of Trustees. “Donna and I are so grateful for the experiences we had at the university thanks to the incredible faculty. We are excited to shine a spotlight on these five exemplary individuals whose work in and out of the classroom transforms students’ lives.”

Robert Manning, who is Chair of MFS Investment Management, credits his UMass Lowell math professor Bernie Shapiro with helping him land the job that launched his career. Donna Manning, who received her nursing degree and her master of business administration from UMass Lowell, was an oncology nurse at Boston Medical Center for more than 30 years until her retirement in 2018. The Mannings are among the largest contributors to UMass in its history.

“Rob and Donna recognize from their personal experience as students that faculty are essential to the success of our great university and are the reason that our students graduate with the excellent skills and can-do spirit they need to succeed,” said UMass President Marty Meehan. “We are deeply grateful to them for their generosity to UMass and for highlighting our outstanding faculty members.”

Before joining UMass Dartmouth in 2011, Medeiros was an inpatient nurse and hospital nurse educator for 12 years, working in various hospitals in southern Massachusetts and Arizona. Medeiros teaches courses in the traditional undergraduate nursing program, the second-degree accelerated BS in Nursing program, and the master’s in nursing online program. In addition to teaching, she is the track coordinator for the second-degree accelerated program.

“I am honored to receive this recognition from the Manning family and proud to represent UMass Dartmouth and the College of Nursing & Health Sciences,” said Clinical Assistant Professor Kiley Medeiros. “Every time I enter a classroom to teach, I reminisce about sitting in the same seats as a student many years ago; to come full circle and have an opportunity to educate the next generation of nurses helps me realize I found my calling.”

Medeiros’s work focuses on incorporating active learning strategies into the classroom setting, improving engagement in the online environment, and digital/eHealth literacy. She has presented her work at local and regional conferences and has been published in the journal, Nurse Educator.

“We are highly honored and very excited that a nursing faculty member has received the Manning Prize for Teaching Excellence,” said College of Nursing & Health Sciences Dean Kimberly Christopher. “Clinical Professor Kiley Medeiros is an outstanding teacher with extensive expertise as an online nurse educator. She is deeply committed to mentoring her faculty colleagues in the educator role and ensuring the excellent classroom and clinical education of our nursing students as they prepare for successful professional careers.”

The 2021 Manning Prize winners will be honored during a June 10, 2021, virtual event.