Carol Kostovich is an Associate Professor and the Assistant Dean of Innovative Educational Strategies and Simulation in the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing at Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Kostovich is an internationally recognized expert on nursing presence- the art of being with while doing for- the cornerstone of the nurse-patient relationship. To capture both patient and nurse perspectives of presence, she developed and validated the Presence of Nursing Scale (PONS) and the Presence of Nursing Scale-RN Version (PONS-RN). These instruments have been used by nurses and graduate students worldwide, impacting research, education and practice. They have been translated into Turkish and Chinese, underscoring their cultural relevance and broad applicability. Dr. Kostovich integrated core principles of nursing presence vulnerability, trust, and feeling safe to speak without fear of retribution into simulation pedagogy. This led to concentrated efforts to promote psychologically safe spaces where students learn without the fear of taking risks, culminating in establishing the inaugural Psychological Safety Affinity Group of the international Society for Simulation in Healthcare and serving as the founding vice-chair. Dr. Kostovich earned her BSN from Saint Xavier College, her MS from Governors State University, and her PhD in Nursing from Loyola University Chicago. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Edward Hines Jr. Hospital.