On Thursday, November 4, School of Nursing Dean Wendy Robb, Ph.D., received a 2021 Shining Star Award at the 20th Annual Dinner By Starlight event. The virtual event, hosted by St. Luke’s Allentown Campus, honored health care workers and community members who have made a positive difference during the pandemic.
According to SLHN.org, “Dinner by Starlight is a fundraising event that provides a special opportunity to recognize Allentown community members who make a difference through their gifts of time, talent, and treasure.” Proceeds from the event will support improvements to the St. Luke’s Allentown Emergency Department.
Robb received a Shining Star Award in recognition for her service to St. Luke’s Allentown and the many hours she served to help immunize the community. Her efforts include helping to organize a mobile vaccine clinic at Cedar Crest’s Mayfair Festival of the Arts in May 2021, where nursing students provided vaccines to festival goers.
Robb joined Cedar Crest College in 2000 from Lehigh Valley Health Network. She was named the director of the graduate nursing program in 2008 and the department chair in 2011. In 2018, the College established the Cedar Crest College School of Nursing and appointed Robb Dean of Nursing. She is a full-time professor and is also the Hazel & Walter May Endowed Chair for Excellence in Nursing. Under her guidance, the College’s first-time NCLEX pass rate has held steady at 97 percent, and the RN program was ranked number three in Pennsylvania by RNCareers.org.
She has received numerous awards for excellence in nursing, nursing education and scholarship. Her background includes work as a clinical nurse specialist in adult acute care, particularly trauma care. She is also an experienced clinical research coordinator, with expertise in complementary and alternative healing.
Robb has published and presented nationally and internationally on a variety of topics and has traveled to nursing schools in Ghana, West Africa and Sweden as part of international exchanges. She has participated in several national grants and maintains certification as a nurse educator by the National League for Nursing.
A first-generation college graduate and an advocate for higher education for nurses, Robb received her associate degree in nursing from Gwynedd Mercy University. Once licensed, she worked the night shift at Lehigh Valley Hospital’s Shock Trauma Unit and continued classes toward a Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) during the day. It took her three years to complete her BSN and another two years to earn her Master of Science in nursing from DeSales University. In 2006, she was accorded a Doctor of Philosophy in nursing from Widener University.
Wendy Robb-Shining Star Video from St. Luke’s on Vimeo.
Video by St. Luke’s
To learn more about the programs offered by the Cedar Crest College School of Nursing, please visit www.cedarcrest.edu/nursing.