About our authors
Audrey Berman, PhD, RN, a San Francisco Bay Area native, received her BSN from the University of California-San Francisco and later returned to that campus to obtain her MS in physiological nursing and her PhD in nursing. Her dissertation was entitled Sailing a Course Through Chemotherapy: The Experience of Women with Breast Cancer. She worked in oncology at Samuel Merritt Hospital prior to beginning her teaching career in the diploma program at Samuel Merritt Hospital School of Nursing in 1976. As a faculty member, she participated in the transition of that program into a baccalaureate degree and in the development of the Master of Science and Doctor of Nursing practice programs. Over the years, she has taught a variety of medical-surgical nursing courses in the prelicensure programs on three campuses. She served as the dean of nursing at Samuel Merritt University from 2004 to 2019 and was the 2014 to 2016 president of the California Association of Colleges of Nursing. Dr. Berman has traveled extensively, visiting nursing and health care institutions in Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, the Soviet Union and Spain. She is a senior director of the Bay Area Tumor Institute and served three years as director of the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs. She is a member of the American Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau and is a site visitor for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. She has twice participated as an NCLEX-RN® item writer for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. She has presented locally, nationally and internationally on topics related to nursing education, breast cancer and technology in healthcare. Dr. Berman authored the scripts for more than 35 nursing skills videotapes in the 1990s. She was a coauthor of the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th editions of Fundamentals of Nursing and the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th editions of Skills in Clinical Nursing.
Shirlee J. Snyder, EdD, RN, graduated from Columbia Hospital School of Nursing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and subsequently received a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Because of an interest in cardiac nursing and teaching, she earned a Master of Science in nursing with a minor in cardiovascular clinical specialist and teaching from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. A move to California resulted in becoming a faculty member at Samuel Merritt Hospital School of Nursing in Oakland, California. Shirlee was fortunate to be involved in the phasing out of the diploma and ADN programs and development of a baccalaureate intercollegiate nursing program. She held numerous positions during her 15-year tenure at Samuel Merritt College, including curriculum coordinator, assistant director of instruction, dean of instruction, and associate dean of the Intercollegiate Nursing Program. She is an associate professor alumnus at Samuel Merritt College. Her interest and experiences in nursing education resulted in Shirlee obtaining a Doctor of Education focused on curriculum and instruction from the University of San Francisco. Dr. Snyder moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1990 and taught in the ADN program at Portland Community College for eight years. During this teaching experience she presented locally and nationally topics related to using multimedia in the classroom and promoting ethnic and minority student success. Another career opportunity in 1998 led her to the Community College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Dr. Snyder was the nursing program director with responsibilities for the associate degree and practical nursing programs for five years. During this time, she coauthored the 5th edition of Kozier & Erb's Techniques in Clinical Nursing with Audrey Berman. In 2003, Dr. Snyder returned to baccalaureate nursing education. She embraced the opportunity to be one of the nursing faculty teaching the first nursing class in the baccalaureate nursing program at the first state college in Nevada, which opened in 2002. From 2008 to 2012, she was the dean of the School of Nursing at Nevada State College in Henderson, Nevada. She is currently retired. Dr. Snyder enjoyed traveling to the Philippines (Manila and Cebu) in 2009 to present all-day seminars to approximately 5,000 nursing students and 200 nursing faculty. She is a member of the American Nurses Association. She has been a site visitor for the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission and the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.
Geralyn Frandsen, EdD, RN, graduated in the last class from DePaul Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis, Missouri. She earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Maryville College. She attended Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, earning a Master of Science degree in nursing with specializations in community health and nursing education. Upon completion, she accepted a faculty position at her alma mater, Maryville College, which has since been renamed Maryville University. In 2003 she completed her doctorate in higher education and leadership at Saint Louis University. Her dissertation was Mentoring Nursing Faculty in Higher Education. Her review of literature was incorporated in the Maryville University Guide to Promotion and Tenure. In service to the university, she has been a member and chair of the promotion and tenure committee for the past 10 years. She is a tenured full professor and currently serves as assistant director of the Catherine McAuley School of Nursing at Maryville. When educating undergraduate and graduate students, she utilizes a variety of teaching strategies to engage her students. When teaching undergraduate pharmacology, she utilizes a team-teaching approach, placing students in groups to review content. Each student is also required to bring a completed ticket to class covering the content to be taught. The practice of bringing a ticket to class was introduced to her by Dr. Em Bevis, who is famous for the Toward a Caring Curriculum. Dr. Frandsen has authored textbooks in pharmacology and nursing fundamentals. In the 9th edition of Kozier & Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing, she contributed the chapters on Safety, Diagnostic Testing, Medications, Perioperative Nursing and Fecal Elimination. In 2013 she was the fundamentals contributor for Ready Point and MyLab® Nursing. This is an online resource to assist students in reviewing content in their nursing fundamentals course. She has authored both the Nursing Fundamentals: Pearson Reviews and Rationales and, in 2007, Pharmacology Reviews and Rationales. Dr. Frandsen has completed the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium train-the-trainer courses for advanced practice nurses and the Doctor of Nursing practice. She is passionate about end-of-life care and teaches a course to her undergraduate students. Dr. Frandsen is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International and the American Nurses' Association, and serves as a site visitor for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
