Crystal Bennett, PhD

Crystal Bennett, PhD, RN, Director and Assistant Professor of Clinical Practice teaches across the Nursing programs.

Dr. Bennett has experience as an acute care nurse in hospital-based settings. Her academic interests focus on developing interprofessional collaboration between health professions and promoting undergraduate research. 

To help students understand the importance of nursing research, she guides nursing students through the process of developing individual research projects that can impact nursing care of patients. Recent student projects include assessing awareness and knowledge of human trafficking among registered nurses and assessment of moral courage among bachelor's in nursing students. Bennett also serves as a consultant to local healthcare agencies on ways to improve staff education and training to improve outcomes.

In addition to mentoring students, Dr. Bennett leads adapted dance intervention research studies to examine the physical and psychological benefits dance has on older adults. Dr. Bennett received funding from the State of Florida Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer's Disease Research Program to study the effects of 12 weeks of adapted dance on agitation and physical function among persons living with Alzheimer's Disease or related dementia disorders. This project is still underway in the local community. 

She received a bachelor’s in nursing from UWF, master’s in nursing education with a specialization in adult health from University of South Alabama, and a PhD in nursing science with a minor in aging from the University of Florida.