Pechacek receives Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education

Clinical Professor Judith Pechacek, DNP, RN, CENP, was named a recipient of the 2024-2025 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education by the University of Minnesota. This honor is awarded to exceptional candidates nominated by colleges in their quest to identify excellence in graduate and professional education.

Pechacek has served as a professional nurse in a variety of settings for 40 years and has held a faculty position since 2013, including leading the Doctor of Nursing Practice program for more than 10 years. Her teaching responsibilities have focused on leadership, quality, business and global studies. Her scholarship is dedicated to interprofessional practice and the connection to quality patient outcomes.

More recently, Pechacek was named as the Senior Quality Nurse Scholar and faculty member for the Veterans Administration Quality Scholars (VAQS) Fellowship program.

Those who receive the Graduate and Professional Teaching Award become members of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, and the title Distinguished University Teaching Professor is conferred upon them. Each winner will also receive a one-time $15,000 award. This award reflects the University’s strong and enduring commitment to quality graduate and professional education at the University of Minnesota.