This article is part of an ongoing Faculty Friday series, highlighting Ramapo College of New Jersey professors and their impact on students and the world.

December 12, 2025

by Lauren Ferguson

For 13 years, Dr. Shantha Franks worked as a nurse practitioner at a nursing home for veterans in Northern New Jersey.

“When I started at the veteran’s home back in 2005, I still had some World War II veterans. Just to hear their stories and what they went through, it’s like being in the history books,” recalled Franks, now an associate professor of nursing at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Franks said she “loved working with the veterans” and with older adults “with so much life experience,” in part, because “they are a population that I can really help.”

“A majority of older adults have multiple issues and just being able to navigate through that with them to improve their quality of life, it is just really satisfying,” Franks said.

Franks, a certified geriatric nurse practitioner, still treats older adults at an internal medicine practice. But the majority of her time is now focused on using her expertise and experience to teach Ramapo College students how to care for the geriatric population.

For her efforts, Franks was awarded the 2025 Excellence in Education Award from the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA), a professional organization for advanced practice providers who care for older adults.

Dr. Shantha Franks earned GAPNA’s 2025 Excellence in Education Award.

“Shantha Franks is honored for advancing gerontological nurse practitioner education,” states an announcement from GAPNA on its 2025 Excellence Awards. “Since 2017, she has developed geriatric-focused coursework…using innovative teaching strategies like simulations and community partnerships. She contributes nationally through publications, presentations, and GAPNA’s Education Committee.”

At Ramapo, Franks was involved in designing the curriculum for the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner program. She also lectures on geriatric nursing and leads students through the clinical portion of their programs on geriatric nursing.

When teaching, “I draw a lot from my clinical experiences, both when I worked for the veterans’ home and even currently working in internal medicine with older adults,” Franks said.

“Older adults have a lot of unique needs compared to people that are younger, just by the simple fact that they’re older and organs don’t work as well as they used to…So medication management is very different in someone who is 75 versus someone who is 35 or 45. So we draw a lot upon the differences due to the aging process and how we can really provide safe, effective care for the older population,” Franks explained.

When speaking with other members of GAPNA’s Education Committee, Franks learned that they appreciated that Ramapo has a specific course focused on geriatric nursing.

“We do really hone in on the unique needs that we see in older adults, so they appreciated that at Ramapo we really did incorporate that into our curriculum,” Franks said.

When teaching, Dr. Shantha Franks, an associate professor of nursing, draws from her clinical experiences treating older adults.

Franks was nominated for the Excellence in Education Award by Dr. Margaret Huryk, an assistant professor of nursing at Seton Hall University, and a nurse practitioner at the Roosevelt Care Center nursing home.

For seven summers, Ramapo students have worked with Huryk at the nursing home during their clinical rotations, Franks said. “Over the years, she has become familiar with the content and curriculum of the geriatric courses and she has been really impressed with Ramapo,” Franks said.

According to GAPNA, each year, the Excellence in Education Award is given to “an individual involved in the teaching and/or design of gerontological nurse practitioner curriculum or course content.” Recipients demonstrate “knowledge of the care of older adults and the ability to translate that knowledge to enhance students’ understanding in innovative ways,” and also “encourage and inspire advanced practice students to develop their excellence in gerontology and exhibit excellence in practice and service to the community.”

Ramapo has been named a top nursing school in New Jersey. To learn more about nursing at Ramapo College, including the BSN, RN to BSN, MSN and DNP degree programs, visit ramapo.edu/nursing.