Dr. Kathleen (Kathy) Fries serves as the Director of the Pre-Licensure BSN Program. She has over 11 years of experience in nursing administration and over 25 years as a professional nurse. Her earlier research focused on maternal-child health nursing topics which aligned with her clinical nursing practice area.  In her role as nursing faculty member and program administrator, she has published and presented in areas related to developing students professionally, using reflective journaling to create student awareness about QSEN, and measuring improved student outcomes following the use of clinical reasoning scenarios. 

Dr. Fries was grant-funded by the CT Department of Higher Education for a project to increase retention and success of sophomore nursing students ($70,000.00), and received scholarship funding to develop an innovative clinical experience as a means to promote inter-professional education and collaboration among healthcare professional students. She has published research about this service learning initative to Guatemala.

Dr. Fries is CNE credentialed, and has served as a program site visitor for the Accreditation Council for Education in Nursing.