Alfred State professor changing lives inside and outside of the classroom

Whether caring for patients, volunteering in her community, or guiding the next generation of nurses, Jess Lippa is all about changing lives for the better.

In addition to being an Alfred State faculty member, Jess is also a family nurse practitioner, a member of her local fire and emergency services department, an adviser to the Hope for Health Club, and so much more. She eagerly gives of her time, talents, and knowledge to so many others, touching lives and making a positive change wherever she goes.

A native of Alfred, Jess graduated from Alfred-Almond Central School and enrolled at SUNY Brockport, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health science in 2008. With few jobs available for physical educators at the time, Jess decided to take an exercise physiology class, during which she shadowed a nurse at a clinic. This experience helped define her career path.

“That’s when I decided that I wanted to become a nurse,” she said.

Her future in focus, Jess then went onto earn her Bachelor of Nursing Science degree from the University of Rochester in 2009 after completing the school’s one-year accelerated nursing program. She would later earn her family nurse practitioner master’s degree from St. John Fisher in 2015, and her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the University at Buffalo in 2019.

Once she entered the workforce, Jess became employed as a registered nurse at several different facilities, including Lakeside Hospital in Brockport, Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, and MASH Urgent Care in Tonawanda.

As Jess worked in the Buffalo area, her husband, Geoff, was completing his post-doctorate degree there, as well, and the couple began thinking about their next step. Luckily, Jess’ mother, Mary Hoffman, who was the secretary for Alfred State’s dean of Arts and Sciences at the time, informed her about a teaching position open within the Nursing Department.

“I said, ‘Oh it doesn’t hurt to go and interview and see what happens,’” recalled Jess, whose father, Rich Hoffman, had also taught at Alfred State. “Then they offered me the position, and within a month or two, I was on my way.”

Jess initially joined the Alfred State nursing faculty as an assistant professor in the fall of 2015. After her second semester, she became the lead teacher for the Nursing I class.

Since then, Jess has become the director of Alfred State’s associate degree in nursing program, been promoted to associate professor, and is now the co-chair of the Nursing Department.

One of Jess’ favorite parts of her job is being able to work with students, particularly helping them to overcome doubts they have about their own abilities.

“I love it when the lightbulb goes on and they just understand,” she said. “They just get it and they’re like ‘Oh my goodness, I never thought I’d be able to know this.’ I just enjoy working with the students when they realize that, if they want something bad enough, they can do it as long as they put the necessary amount of time and effort into it. That’s what’s so much fun.”

Getting to see those same students graduate is also very rewarding for Jess.

“I love working with them during the semester, and I bawl like a baby during the pinning ceremony when they’re walking across that stage and they’ve graduated,” she said. “It’s such a rewarding position.”

Of course, Jess also enjoys and appreciates the nursing faculty she gets to work with each day.

“It’s amazing to see the creativity that comes from the people I work with,” she said. “They create some of the most amazing experiences for our students and just try to push our students out of their comfort zones to help them grow, so I would say the students are a big reason why I enjoy working at Alfred State and why I continue to teach, but I wouldn’t be able to do it without my team here.”

Jess and her fellow nursing faculty stepped up in a big way earlier this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic by answering the call of duty at area hospitals and other healthcare facilities. While some faculty members began working at these locations for the first time, others began taking more shifts and working longer hours at facilities where they had already been providing care in addition to their teaching responsibilities.

“I am honored to work with this group of faculty members who have stepped up to support our communities in their time of need,” said Jess, who is serving as a family nurse practitioner at St. James Hospital in Hornell.

In addition to her teaching and professional nursing responsibilities, Jess also advises the Hope for Health Club, which she helped form and which allows nursing students to participate in civic engagement activities locally, nationally, and globally. Some notable trips the club has taken over the years have been to Houston to assist with Hurricane Harvey relief, as well as Haiti to provide medical aid to residents there.

“I really enjoyed going on those trips,” Jess said. “It just gives you a different perspective on your life. No matter how bad life gets, if you can come together and support each other in times of need, then you become a better person in the end.”

Jess is also very involved in her community, donating her time to the A.E. Crandall Hook & Ladder Co., the Allegany County Board of Elections, the Alfred-Almond Alumni Association, and St. Jude’s Church in Alfred. She is also a mentor for the Alfred State women’s soccer team, a member of the Nurse Practitioner Association of New York State, and a Sigma Theta Tau International member.

As someone who knows first-hand the impact that getting involved can have, Jess is encouraging Alfred State nursing alumni to engage even more with current students by sharing their stories and participating in virtual events. Interested alumni may contact Jess at 607-587-4135 or lippaj@alfredstate.edu.

In recognition of her efforts both inside and outside of the classroom, Jess has received several awards including Alfred State’s Leadership through Civic Engagement Award and most recently, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. For her doctoral work titled, “Barriers for Prescribing Buprenorphine for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses,” she won two first-place awards in 2019 – one at The Eastern Nursing Research Society Conference during the peer presentation portion, and the other during the University at Buffalo Research Day.

For Jess, however, the biggest reward of all is the impact that she has made on other people, from students, to patients, to neighbors in her community. It’s why she teaches, why she volunteers, and why she cares for those in need of medical help, whether they live in Hornell, Houston, or Haiti. When looking at all she has accomplished, it’s easy to see that Jess Lippa is the definition of a life changer.