Editing Herzing Issues: Faculty Instruction and Curriculum Design (section)

=== HU-117: Clinical IV (NSG621) Adjunct Professor Celia Pfaff resigned 'effective this morning' at the start of Week 1 of the current semester; Herzing sent zero notification to students; students discovered the resignation only because Pfaff personally emailed one student (Student AG), who then shared via GroupMe ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
! style="width:14em" | Severity
| Critical
! Status
| CONFIRMED
|-
! Issue type
| Faculty Mid-Semester Resignation / Zero Student Notification
! Date added
| 2026-05-07
|-
! Owner
| colspan="3" | Dean of Nursing / Dr. Tressler / Dr. Prashad / HR
|}
'''Finding.''' Per the tracker's evidence, Celia Pfaff, RN MSN, WCC (Wound Care Certified), DWC, CLT, Adjunct Professor I at Herzing University Madison, resigned from the MSN-DE program effective the morning of a day in week one of the current semester (May 2026). Herzing issued zero official communication to students enrolled in Clinical IV, and students discovered the resignation only because Pfaff personally emailed Student AG, who shared the message in the cohort GroupMe.

'''Evidence.''' Email from Celia Pfaff (cpfaffjump@herzing.edu) to Student AG, 3:53 PM (May 2026). GroupMe messages from Student AG at 4:18 and 4:19 PM forwarding and explaining the resignation to the cohort. Source Group: email from Celia Pfaff to Student AG (3:53 PM, May 2026); GroupMe, Herzing MSN-DE Cohort Chat (Student AG, 4:18-4:19 PM, May 2026).

'''Reported statement.''' <blockquote>I am so glad to hear from you! I regrettably had resigned from the MSN-DE program effective this morning. It truly was a pleasure to have gotten to know you and I wish you nothing but success!</blockquote> Student AG then told the cohort by GroupMe that if Celia had been listed as their Clinical IV professor, she had been Student AG's professor as well, and that a new professor was apparently forthcoming.

'''Standards.''' ACEN Standard 5: institutions must employ and retain sufficient qualified faculty; a faculty resignation on the first day of a clinical semester constitutes a failure of faculty resource management. 34 CFR §668.14 (administrative capability): institutions must maintain administrative capacity to notify students of material changes to their enrolled courses; a professor resignation is a material change. HLC Criteria 3.C: institutions must demonstrate sufficient faculty resources to support educational programs. The complete absence of institutional notification, forcing students to rely on a faculty member's personal email to a single student, forwarded informally via GroupMe, demonstrates a breakdown in basic administrative communication. This is a direct recurrence of the pattern documented in {{HU|HU-043}} (Clinical IV instructor absent day one, prior cohort) and {{HU|HU-103}} (high faculty turnover, mental health professor refused to lecture), establishing that mid semester faculty loss in Clinical IV specifically is a documented recurring pattern.

'''Impact.''' Students enrolled in Clinical IV NSG621 did not know who their professor was as of the first week of the semester, and no replacement announcement was made through official channels. Students who needed to communicate with faculty about the week one assignments, including the two assignments added mid week per {{HU|HU-116}}, had no confirmed faculty contact. Clinical IV is a high stakes semester with 135 on site clinical hours and major graded activities, so a faculty vacancy at the semester's start disrupts supervision, feedback, and academic standing management. The zero notification approach also means students who did not happen to see the GroupMe post remained unaware of the change, creating an information asymmetry within the cohort.

'''Notes.''' Celia Pfaff's resignation effective the morning of a day in week one places this event among the most disruptive possible timing for faculty departure. Students have already begun submitting work and attending clinical; the absence of a supervising faculty member creates both academic and clinical safety concerns. This is the second documented instance of a Clinical IV faculty departure without notice, see {{HU|HU-043}} for the prior cohort in the same course. The recurrence in the same course across multiple semesters suggests a structural problem with Clinical IV faculty retention, potentially related to the documented issues in that course, including extreme workload ({{HU|HU-116}}) and clinical placement difficulties ({{HU|HU-071}}, {{HU|HU-093}}). Cross-reference: {{HU|HU-043}} (Clinical IV faculty absent day one, prior cohort), {{HU|HU-103}} (high faculty turnover), {{HU|HU-116}} (NSG621 week one mid week assignment additions), {{HU|HU-045}} (faculty non-responsiveness).

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