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.

Nurse Devon Berry on Smoothies, Exercise, and Lifestyle

Oregon Health and Sciences University’s former Executive Associate Dean of Nursing, Devon Berry, RN, PhD is an individual that holds to the belief that a nursing leader should lead by example in the area of health promotion by leading a healthy lifestyle. In his 10 plus years of leadership in nursing at various academic centers of higher education, Dr. Berry has committed to leading a healthy lifestyle. As part of a healthy lifestyle, Dr. Berry commits to exercising at least 3 times a week and eating a mainly plant-based diet, although exceptions are made for an occasional cut of grass-fed beef or a perfectly grilled pork-chop. 

At least once a year, nursing leader Dr. Devon Berry, at the coercion of his wife, engages in a week of plant-based green smoothies for breakfast and lunch. There is no limit of what kind of fruits and veggies can go into a green smoothie states nurse Devon Berry. Kale, chard and spinach of course make up the green part, but vegetables such as beets and frozen cauliflower pearls also debut in these drinkable “meals.”

While not suggesting that every nurse drink a kale and cauliflower smoothie, Dr. Devon Berry does believe that nurses play key roles in the ability to guide and influence general health. As academic deans, associate deans and faculty, Dr. Berry believes that the example of caring for one’s own health provides salient modeling in the training of future nurses and nursing leaders. Nurses caring for the health of their own bodies, will be better able to handle the challenges to stamina, critical thinking, and ever-changing environments of caring for others in the public arena.

Devon Berry, Nurse Leader, On Writing for Speaking

Devon Berry, RN, PhD is the prior Executive Associate Dean at Oregon Health and Science University. Over the past decade, Dr. Berry has served in multiple nursing leadership positions in academic settings. Across all of these positions, nursing leader Dr. Berry has come to appreciate the importance of the relationship between strong writing skills and strong speaking skills. He has noted that many leaders shy away from carefully manuscripting important speaking engagements.

Devon Berry, academic leader and nursing faculty, believes that the level of scrutiny under which leadership often functions demands that the leader practice a careful stewardship of words. He states that this stewardship can play itself out in one of several ways. First, Dr. Berry identifies those speaking opportunities which are more spontaneous leaving little time for preparation. Often, three to four minutes of uninterrupted reflection can result in sufficient notes for an introduction, three main points, and a conclusion. Nursing leader Devon Berry believes that a little preparation is often far better than no preparation especially if the individual is not a naturally gifted speaker. Furthermore, Berry states, leaders often say things they later wish they had not when working without notes.

Serving in executive roles, says Dr. Berry, deans, associate deans, and other nursing leaders will often have the opportunity to accept formal speaking engagements. For such engagements, much can be gained from fully manuscripting a talk before it is given. Devon Berry, nursing leader and prior associate dean, reflects that the point of manuscripting is not so that the speaker can blandly read through pages of content. Rather, he states, manuscripting ensures that the speaker has carefully thought through all of their ideas and formed a coherent and logical progression for their comments. Nursing leader Devon Berry believes that this level of preparation when fused with careful attention to audience interest and expressive delivery can make all the difference between a strong or weak presentation.

Devon Berry, nursing leader, on organizational leadership

The world of social media has made every person, regardless of station in life, a publisher. Devon Berry, prior associate dean of nursing, has embraced this opportunity and posts regularly on social media platforms such as Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook, Medium, and his own blog site. As a professional in the world of nursing education, Devon often uses these platforms to share his thoughts on organizational life. As the previous Executive Associate Dean at the Oregon Health and Science University, Berry developed a background in operational, programmatic, and strategic leadership.

Sharing thoughts and observations on organizational leadership is a privilege for nurse Devon Berry. Berry’s short posts, videos, and longer articles are focused on nurturing success and satisfaction. Success and satisfaction, says Devon Berry, prior nursing associate dean, are two key elements needed for the people in an organization to thrive. Satisfaction is generally derived from a sense of meaning, purpose, or value in work and the workplace. Success is related to one’s ability to make progress and achieve goals. Because so much time is spent in working environments, Berry contends that being satisfied and successful at work can greatly impact quality of life.

Dr. Berry believes that if a leader wants to serve their organization well, they will focus on the satisfaction and success of the organization’s employees. If an organization is well-aligned to its mission and understands where its vision is leading it, Berry believes that successful and satisfied people will often be able to accomplish strategic objectives with very little direct oversight. Such an environment spins off many unearned benefits.