About CPE Certified Educators

Nancy Anderson was born in Savannah, Georgia. She graduated with a B.A. degree in religion and philosophy from Berry College in Rome, Georgia (1976). She received her Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology/Emory University (1979). She did a three-year post graduate study at the School of Professional Psychology with concentration in the area of Martin Buber and the Dialogical Approach.

Nancy was ordained in 1978 by the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. In 1984, she was ordained as an elder in the United Methodist Church as a member of the Pacific Southwest Conference where she currently retains her conference membership. Nancy did her first unit of CPE at Georgia Regional Hospital in Augusta, Georgia. She was a chaplain resident at University of California, San Francisco during a residency year, 1980-1981.  Following her CPE residency, she was appointed by her bishop to be the associate pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Coronado, California. In 1986, she entered the supervisory program at Sharp Healthcare in San Diego. She was certified as an “ACPE Associate Supervisor” in 1992 and ACPE Certified Educator in 1997. Nancy served as director of the Pastoral Care Department at Sharp Healthcare. In 1992, Nancy moved with her family back to Savannah where she worked at Memorial Medical Center and Southeast Hospice as a CPE supervisor and chaplain.

In 1998, she became the director of spiritual development for Bethesda Home for Boys in Savannah and established a CPE program there. In 2000, she left Savannah to become the director of spiritual care at Bridgeport Hospital/Yale New Haven Health. In addition to being the director, she also served as co-regional director for the Eastern Region of ACPE and served on various leadership roles both regionally and nationally for ACPE. 

Among her ACPE National responsibilities, she serves as president of the Foundation Board of ACPE, Inc. Throughout her professional life, Nancy has served in various leadership roles both in hospital leadership as well as within the national organization of ACPE. Some of these leadership roles include the following: ethics, physician disclosure, patient satisfaction, diversity, community outreach and regional and national certification, development, and accreditation. She co-authored a chapter in the book Professional Spiritual and Pastoral Context under “Pastoral Care to Special Populations.” 

Nancy enjoys outdoor activities including gardening and hiking.