Normal–Illinois State University’s Mennonite College of Nursing Assistant Professor Kim Astroth has been   selected as a 2012 Illinois Board of Higher Education Nurse Educator Fellow.

The program includes a $10,000 grant toward continuing research. It is awarded to those who have made significant contributions to their nursing education programs.

Astroth, who joined the Mennoite faculty in 1999, is on of the only 18 nurse educators in the sate to receive the fellowship. She is planning to use the funds to further her research on the study of physical function and disease self management in individuals with chronic kidney disease.

“As the number of individuals with diabetes and/or hypertension continues to increase, so will the risk for development of chronic kidney disease,” said Astroth.

During her tenure with Illinois State, Astroth has taught primarily medical surgical nursing clinicals, with an emphasis on critical care. She assisted with Mennonite’s development of the Ph.D. in nursing and a new master’s degree sequence, the Clinical Nurse Leader program.

Astroth earned her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in St. Louis. She received research grant awards for her dissertation from Sigma Theta Tau International Nu Chi and Xi Pi chapters.