A. Lynne Wagner, EdD, MSN, RN, FACCE, Caritas Coach®, HMCT

Nurse-Educator Consultant for Caring Science Practice,
Watson Caring Science Institute Faculty Associate,
Mentoring Programs Facilitator
Distinguished Watson Caring Science Scholar
  Caritas Colleague


Dr. A. Lynne Wagner earned a Bachelor of Science and Master Degrees in Nursing and a Doctorate of Education in Leadership. Her nursing career of over 50 years includes work as a staff nurse; in-service nurse-educator; Lamaze International certified childbirth educator and a Fellow of the American College of Childbirth Educators; a family nurse practitioner; and for 20 years, a Professor of Nursing at Fitchburg State University, being awarded Professor Emerita of Nursing. She served from 2008 to 2021 as first Director for three years and then Faculty member of Watson Caring Science Institute’s (WCSI) Caritas Coach Education Program (CCEP), which included a short period as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Colorado’s Watson Caring Science Center.

Currently, Dr. Wagner, a Caring Science Scholar, serves as WCSI Faculty Associate and a Nurse-Educator Consultant, presenting workshops/presentations on caring practice and the application of Watson’s Caring Science. She also helps organizations develop/organize caring mentor programs, based on her Caring Mentoring Model©. She is a HeartMath Certified Trainer and also volunteers in a local Medical Reserve Corps. In 2013 she co-founded and launched the grass root Massachusetts Regional Caring Science Consortium (MRCSC), inviting nurses to gather in dialogue about caring practice, which in 2015 evolved from bimonthly evening meetings to half-day conferences twice yearly in partnership with hospitals and schools of nursing across the state. The MRCSC has offered virtual programs during COVID pandemic.

Her research and writing, published and presented nationally and internationally, focus on reflective storytelling, how nurses develop caring-self, caring science in practice, and aesthetic inquiry, using poetry, photography and other aesthetic ways of knowing. She has developed The Caring Mentoring Model© and has authored many published journal articles and book chapters. Her book, Four Seasons of Grieving: A Nurse’s Healing Journey with Nature, was published in 2015 by Sigma Theta Tau International. The book was awarded the 2015 1st Place American Journal of Nursing (AJN) Book of the Year in Palliative Care and Hospice category and a top rating of 5 by Doody’s Review Service.

Dr. Wagner is a member of American Nurses Association, ANA Massachusetts, Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society, the International Association for Human Caring (IAHC), the American Holistic Nursing Association, and the Watson Caring Science Institute. She served 3 terms on the IAHC Board of Directors, and continues to serve on committees and since 1996 as the IAHC Historian, writing the History of the International Association for Human Caring. She serves on the Editorial Review Board of the International Journal for Human Caring as Assistant Editor for Poetry, and is a past peer reviewer for the Advances in Nursing Science.

Lynne’s interests include reading (about everything), poetry, storytelling, nature photography, water color painting, and the joy of learning about many cultures through world-wide travel and meeting people. She loves music; being outdoors in nature, especially near the ocean; and movies about people’s stories. Lynne is committed to co-creating a caring culture of compassionate loving kindness, heart-centered practice, and transformative caring healing work environments for health care providers.