Not long after Cape Fear Community College hired Associate Degree of Nursing (ADN) Director Karen Sharrah to replace Brenda Holland, a veteran of nearly 30 years, Sharrah resigned after just two months. This follows the departure of half the ADN nursing faculty, likely due to a policy change that increased their required contact hours from 18 to 25.
Holland recently retired from CFCC; however, WWAY reported allegations that the college forced her out, which the college has denied. She was then replaced by Sharrah, and now Allison Gilbert.
Holland’s departure came as part of an exodus of nursing staff, including Associate Director ADN Paige Howard, who spent close to 25 years at CFCC, ADN Level Coordinator Heather Caldwell, and Licensed Practical Nursing Director Erin Ludlum.
CFCC has hired Allison Gilbert to replace Sharrah. They’ve also since replaced top ADN and Licensed Practical Nursing leadership. The college has also hired Marie DeLillo for Ludlum’s former position. Terri Dewess is now the ADN Level I Coordinator. Steven Brown has been hired as the ADN Level II Coordinator.
The college denied that policy changes led to the departure of experienced staff, and has downplayed the turnover.
In early September, Sharrah and CFCC Vice President Brandon Guthrie gave an interview to WWAY to assuage public concerns over where the program was headed without veteran staff at the helm.
Guthrie told WWAY, “I do want to clarify that no one was forced to leave Cape Fear Community College,” and Sharrah said she had “hoped to build relationships with health care providers in the region to create additional opportunities for students and help address the area’s nursing shortage.”
WHQR asked about the turnover within the nursing department – and about Sharrah’s departure – on September 23; a CFCC spokesperson wrote back on October 6, “When there is a nursing shortage across the industry, both healthcare organizations and educational institutions face increased competition to recruit and retain qualified professionals from the same limited talent pool.”
The college has focused on its successes, including increases in enrollment.
At The Endowment’s meeting on September 22 on the health care collaborative grant, from which CFCC received $10.1 million, the Dean of Healthcare Strategy and Partnerships, formerly the Dean of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mary Ellen Naylor gave a presentation touting the successes of the ADN department.
Naylor noted that “in 2023 we had that 59% retention rate of our ADN students. Our May class of 2026, had a retention rate of 76% of those students.”
She also mentioned CFCC’s success in “doubling enrollment.”
Those enrollment increases took place during the leadership tenure of Holland, Howard, and Caldwell — and some think Holland, in particular, deserves credit, including Susan Vinson-Greene, who helped established the ADN at CFCC.
“Brenda [Holland] is the one who had to work with the Board of Nursing. [She] is the one who had to set up all of the clinical and work with the hospital. [...] She's more than doubled it, and kept the integrity of the program at the same time,” Vinson-Greene said.
Notably, CFCC can’t unilaterally increase student enrollment in the nursing program — any changes have to be signed off by the state Board of Nursing. This also goes for clinical hours.
Vinson-Greene retired in 2004, but she still keeps up with the staff – and she even hired Holland. While there, she had the charge of establishing the ADN program. She was also in charge of creating the following programs: dental hygiene, occupational therapy, phlebotomy, pharmacy technology, radiation technology, and sonography.
Vinson-Greene said the turmoil, and what happened with Holland and the others, was “heartbreaking.”
Correction: Vinson-Greene was hired to start the ADN program. The Practical Nursing program was established prior to Vinson-Greene's tenure.
