Let’s Meet the Presidential
Candidates!
Mark Crider, PhD, MSN, RN
Would you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a Pennsylvania native, born and raised in Central Pennsylvania. I am actually a
traditional nurse, believe it or not. I’m entering my 29th year as a nurse; I got my
undergraduate from Penn State and my Master’s degree is in Nursing Education
from Villanova University.
In 1999, I had an opportunity to move to California and thought, “What the heck, let’s
have this experience!” And so I did, and I spent 12 years in California. I did my PhD
there in Nursing with a focus in Health Policy at the University of California San
Francisco. Then, thanks to Facebook and high school reunions, I was connected
with people and came back, and each time I was missing home more. And it
dawned on me that it was time to come home.
So I’m home, and I’ve been home for 5 years. I was very active in the association
before I went to California and was very active in the California associations. So I
miss it. It’s been in my blood since 1986, since I was a nursing student when I
served on the Board of Directors of the Student Nurses Association of Pennsylvania
and the following year as SNAP President. So it’s been in me since then. It’s been
30 years, and it’s time to get back involved.
Please expand more on your experience in professional
organizations, both in Pennsylvania and California.
Education:
PhD, Nursing/Health Policy,
University of California San Francisco
MSN, Nursing Education, Villanova University
BS, Nursing, Pennsylvania State University
Experience Snapshot:
§ Currently serves the Assistant Dean for
Administration and Special Projects in the
Duquesne University School of Nursing
§ Previously served as Chair of Undergraduate
Programs
§ Has extensive experience in professional
organizational leadership, including holding
positions in the American Psychiatric Nurses
Association and the National League for
Nursing
§ Held state leadership roles as a member of the
Board of Directors of PSNA, the ANA/California,
and the California League for Nursing
§ Has acted as three-time delegate from both
Pennsylvania and California to the ANA general
assembly meetings
Here, before I left and after I graduated from Penn State, I was involved with the
Affirmative Action Committee within the PNA [which later became PSNA]. I was
a founding member of the Committee on Diversity. So we brought in the work of
that committee at that time. I also served on the Practice Commission for a
period of time. I was also fortunate, just a year after I graduated, to be the
Legislative Program Director for PNA for a year. So I got to be really engaged
with the legislative process, learn the legislative process, learn how to read
bills—that was always fun—and just how that all worked. So that was an
incredible opportunity to be engaged as a staff member.
I was also a delegate to ANA from PNA two times. In California, I was missing it
and it was time, and I wanted to make sure that I maintained my involvement. In
California, I was also a first alternate delegate to ANA, and then I was also an
ANA delegate from ANA California. I was on the Board of Directors; I was the
Membership and Communications Director. For APNA California chapter, I was
also on t he Board of Directors. We were trying to build the California league for
nursing as a state chapter of the NLN, and I had stepped forward to serve as
president-elect for that position. Within a month of getting that position, the
elected president was appointed to a national committee, so they asked if I
would step up. If you ask me to serve, I will serve. I have a call to service when it
comes to professional organizations.
If you ask me to serve, I will serve. I
have a call to service when it comes
to professional organizations.
Continued on next page…