Traci Sicurella received her ASN in 1984 and her BSN in 1986, both from Anderson College, and then obtained her MSN in 2014 from Kean University in Union, New Jersey.  At this time, Traci is currently pursuing her PhD in Nursing Education from Northcentral University, La Jolla, CA with a dissertation titled “Caregiver education on socialization of persons with dementia using robotic pets: A qualitative case study”.  This dissertation focuses on the training of nursing home caregivers to use a robotic pet to engage dementia patients in social activities to reduce loneliness with the study being conducted in a small nursing home in Muncie, IN.

While living in New Jersey, Traci was an Assistant Professor for Kean University at the satellite campus of Ocean County College, Toms River for two years as the BSN Coordinator for the nursing department.  Prior to that, she taught at the New Jersey School of Nursing in Ewing, NJ for the LPN to RN program.  After returning to Indiana in 2021, Traci joined the AUSON in August as an adjunct professor for the online RN to BSN program and currently is a full time Assistant Professor for the online program.  Traci has dedicated her nursing career to Long Term Care for over 35 years with special interest in dementia patients.