Nursing

Early in her nursing career, Dr. Hutchings knew the way to make the greatest impact in healthcare was to educate competent, caring and compassionate nurses. Academia has been her area of practice since 2007 when she started at Lutheran School of Nursing in St. Louis. From there, Alicia taught primarily in undergraduate education at Oklahoma City University, expanding her knowledge and expertise in curriculum, teaching excellence and university service. She was chair of continuing education and was an integral part of local and regional conference development. 

She joined UMSL in 2016. Dr. Hutchings’ MSN and doctorate have an emphasis on nursing education. She has had the opportunity to teach in both undergraduate and graduate nursing courses and assist with programmatic development and evaluation. 

Research interests: Nursing student engagement, innovative teaching strategies, institutional research and student motivation, retention of the RN by understanding student motivators.

Dr. Mantych has taught in the RN to BSN program for 33 years and is former program director. She has a BSN and MSN from St. Louis University, with an emphasis in medical-surgical nursing. She earned her doctorate in nursing practice (DNP) from Chatham University in 2013. Dr. Mantych considers being a nurse educator a privilege and honor embodying an effort to promote a safer and healthier society. 

Her work experience includes oncology nursing, hospice care and nurse education since 1984, teaching medical-surgical nursing at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville before joining UMSL. She enjoys teaching to ultimately influence patient outcomes following the Code of Ethics for Nurses established by the American Nurses Association (ANA). 

Diane Saleska teaches courses in the fundamentals of nursing, legal and ethical implications of nursing practice, a senior capstone course, health assessment and simulation. Dr. Saleska has been in nursing for over 40 years. She earned her DNP in nursing educational leadership and worked for 16 years in medical surgery, orthopedics, IV therapy and infant-toddler nursing. She previously taught at Northern Kentucky University, Northwest State Community College and St. Louis Community College.

She was an early adopter of simulation in nursing education. As a former skills and simulation coordinator, she was instrumental in integrating simulation throughout the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She holds a certificate in simulation leadership and has Certification in Healthcare Simulation in Education (CHSE). Dr. Saleska also serves as a nurse expert in nursing negligence cases nationwide.