Devon Berry, Academic Nursing Leader, on Pets

Devon Berry, RN, PhD, is a leader, a nurse, and a consultant. He most recently served as the Executive Associate Dean for School of Nursing at OHSU in Portland, OR. He is currently enjoying a mid-career gap-year to pursue deferred professional goals and spend time with family. Dr. Berry believes that deciding to adopt a pet is a big decision for any family. He grew up with dogs and has many good memories of the warmth and vitality they brought to his childhood home. Selecting dogs in his home required the intersection of a dog's availability and the appropriateness of the breed’s traits for a small farm. Most of Devon Berry’s dogs as a youth came from neighbors with pups who happened to have larger breeds that were good around animals including collies and German shepherds.

When an individual or a family decides to adopt a dog, selecting the right breed can be an involved process. Fortunately, the internet provides dozens of resources from many trustworthy organizations that can help in the selection process. In fact, some resources offer automated dog breed selectors that walk aspiring dog owners through a series of questions designed to narrow down the choices. For example, one selector asks for preferences around qualities such as amount of barking, intensity of grooming, activity level, trainability, and good with children. After entering your information, the selector produces a list of breeds that best match your preferred profile.

As a nurse, Devon Berry understands that dogs and other animal companions can play a supportive role in the lives of many people. The allowance of pet visits or pet therapy services can often provide a significant emotional uplift to patients who need encouragement. Nurses, says Devon Berry, are often in an excellent position to facilitate this kind of experience for their patients. Dr. Berry believes that pets can be a great gift in the lives of those who desire loyal companionship. Kind and responsible humans can also be great gifts to pets who are in need of a home. Selecting and adopting just the right pet for your home can be an investment that pays generous returns in times of both health and sickness.

Nurse Devon Berry on Education for Leadership

Devon Berry, RN, PhD, is a nursing leader in Portland, Oregon, who has served in multiple academic nursing leadership opportunities across the U.S. Most recently, Dr. Berry served as the Executive Associate Dean for the Oregon Health and Science University’s School of Nursing. He has also held Director and Sr. Consultant level positions in other organizations. As a leader and a nurse, Dr. Berry often considers the elements of formal education that are helpful to prepare an individual for leadership in the academy.

After 20 years of work experience in higher ed, Nurse Devon Berry recently completed his MBA. Although this long-term career goal was gratifying to accomplish in and of itself, Dr. Berry believes that the greatest benefit has come from the new competencies gained. Like many nursing leaders, his experience as an associate dean and executive director has informally instilled many of the skills of an organizational leader through on-the-job training. These skills, however, were unrefined and ungrounded in a solid theoretical base. The education gained with an MBA provided a much deeper understanding of issues related to human resources, finance, strategy, marketing, and operations among other areas. 

Devon Berry believes that his work as an academic nursing leader will be greatly enhanced by these new understandings. Returning to the question of appropriate education for an academic leader, Dr. Berry feels that many nursing leaders, such as Deans, Associate Deans, and other leaders charged with executive responsibility, can benefit greatly from the grounding that an MBA, or other similar degrees, can provide. Employers seeking new leaders or wanting to develop current leaders, should consider advanced education in leadership a good option for building their academic organizations.