Kathy Bruning, BSN (1978), MS has great memories of her time attending the University of Colorado College of Nursing, formerly the School of Nursing in Denver.
Alumni Students Scholarship Hot Topic
University of Colorado College of Nursing 2023 BSN graduate Mark Domingo received a transfer scholarship when he applied and was accepted to Anschutz Medical Campus BSN program and was grateful for it. “It certainly helped defray some of the costs of college.”
America was rebuilding and growing after the end of World War II, and the University of Colorado School of Nursing was certainly no exception.
During World War II, Japanese Americans were shipped to internment camps throughout the US. American-by-birth citizens of Japanese parents (Nisei) loyally answered the call for new nurses. Despite numerous obstacles to attain a nursing education, these courageous young women overcame prejudice to volunteer for the US Cadet Nurse Corps and serve in American hospitals. The University of Colorado School of Nursing was a safe haven for many Nisei students who were turned away from nursing programs on the west coast.
One moment, 32-year-old Terry Chase was leaning over the handlebars of her road bike feeling the sun and wind caress her face while her lungs and legs pumped and burned along a 10-mile route in Grand Junction. The next moment, she was airborne.
By 1973, the University of Colorado School of Nursing had established credibility as the birthplace of the nurse practitioner – a concept that proliferated in more than 65 nursing schools around the country. One publication ranked CU Nursing as the fifth best nursing school in the United States. The school added more master’s courses in its curriculum and enrollment continued to grow.
Forty-eight hours after graduating from the University of Colorado School of Nursing in Denver with a bachelor of science degree in 1967, Mary Dempsey volunteered for the US Army. The new recruit was shipped to Chu Lai, Vietnam to nurse the wounded during the war's bloodiest year.
In recent years, the University of Colorado College of Nursing at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus rose to challenges of COVID-19 and rampant turnover in the healthcare workforce. Like other educational institutions, CU Nursing adapted to remote learning and safety protocols in response to a pandemic that tested the patience of students and faculty members.
When Brittney Fuller (BSN ’22, RN) and Amanda Worley (BSN ’22, RN) graduated from the University of Colorado College of Nursing at Anschutz Medical Campus in May 2022, they had the knowledge they needed to be nurses. Yet, both preferred to transition into their careers gradually with more support and experience.
On a cold January day, five volunteers bundled in heavy coats and boots stomped around the snow in a remote area of Aurora looking for people experiencing homelessness who may need medical care. The volunteers are part of a team called CU Street Medicine that makes old-fashioned house calls for “rough sleepers” wherever they are; in parks, under bridges, along trails, and on sidewalks.
Seventeen years before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired masses in Washington with his speech, “I Have a Dream,” a young Black woman nicknamed Zippy in Denver was already living her dream. In 1946, ‘Zippy’ Zipporah Parks Hammond became the first Black woman to graduate with a bachelor of science degree from the University of Colorado School of Nursing.
With great pleasure, we announce the 2023 recipients of the CU College of Nursing Alumni Association Awards.
After going through clinical rotations at the University of Colorado Department of Psychiatry, CU Nursing alums Sarah Schwenk and Leslie Choi aspired to make their training program even better.
Lindsey Harms’ nursing career was essentially born after she observed the miracle of birth in 2002.
Many things will come and go over a 30-year timespan, but friendships make an enduring impression.
After graduating from the University of Colorado College of Nursing at the Anschutz Medical Campus in December of 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, Christopher Battelli faced the ultimate test – trying to pass the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX). Without it, he wouldn’t be able to work as a registered nurse. He took online preparatory courses, listened to podcasts and studied for hours.
While earning her PhD in Nursing Science at the University of Colorado College of Nursing at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, Suzanne E. Courtwright, PhD (’21), MSN, PNP, received several awards and honors. Among them: the Dean’s Early Scholar Award (2017); the Joan Hess Scholarship Award (2018) and the Nancy Hester Scholarship Award (2020).
With academic roots tied to the University of Colorado College of Nursing, Marlaine Smith, RN, PhD, said she considered Monday’s keynote presentation a homecoming.
Growing up in a Spanish-speaking family, Gladiz Martinez, AG-CNS ’20, BSN ’08, often served as a reluctant family interpreter.
We might remember 2022 as a year when we started to rebuild from the most serious public health crisis of our time.
“I knew at a young age that I wanted to be a doctor or a person who could help others heal,” says CU Nursing alumna Michelle Kahn-John, PhD ‘14, MSN ’00, who comes from a long line of medicine women and men from the Navajo (Diné) Nation, Big Water Clan (Tó’tsohnii) of Fort Defiance, AZ.
Krystal Hidalgo was born during a short and cold winter in El Paso, Texas on the Mexican border to a struggling single mother of two. A gambler might have bet against her success, but would have lost. Today, after attending two unique educational pathways at the University of Colorado College of Nursing, Hidalgo is a Registered Nurse, has earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, and is working on an advanced Master of Science degree.
Marilyn Ray, BSN Class of 1968 and MSN Class of 1969, found nursing when her father fell ill and was hospitalized in her birth country of Canada. “I was amazed by the nurses who cared for him,” she remembers. “They saved his life.” From that experience, Ray began to visualize herself as a nurse and felt motivated to enroll in a diploma program at St. Joseph Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario in 1958.
Kate Redlinger fondly remembers the time when her mother was called away from a family gathering to take care of another family’s emergency.
“One Christmas Eve she got called in because there was an ectopic pregnancy and she had to save a woman’s life,” Redlinger recalls. “Despite the interruption of the holiday plans, I thought that was very cool.”
The University of Colorado College of Nursing Alumni Association Board of Directors is excited to announce three new members: Etzany (Etzy) Diaz Ocampo, Kelsey McDonald Gibson, and Sarah Daley.
One of the very first Pediatric Nurse Practitioner graduates in the country, Ann Noordenbos Smith (BS ’64, MS ’65, PhD ’88), helped lay the groundwork for advanced nursing practices which now cover nearly every discipline in healthcare.
“It was the most exhaustive, exhilarating, creative, awful, collaborative work I’ve ever done.” So says the lead nurse consultant in Aurora Public Schools Health Services after two years of a global pandemic in one of the largest school districts in the state.
Two highly regarded nursing leaders with ties to the University of Colorado College of Nursing are credited with pioneering the widespread adoption of nurse residency programs (NRPs). An article in the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing paid tribute to the groundbreaking work of Colleen Goode, PhD, RN, FAAN, NEA-BC, and Mary Krugman, PhD, FAAN, NEA-BC, for building what has become a national model that has helped nursing graduates segue to their chosen profession.
Emily Reyes has been working in nursing informatics for several years but knew she needed to earn her master’s degree if she wanted to advance in her career. “Even though I was already doing the work, I needed more theory and evidence behind what I was doing to take on higher leadership roles,” says Reyes.
Many women in southwest Colorado have Karen Zink, CNP, MS, to thank for providing medical care that wouldn’t have been available without her.
Like many nurses, Kyla Wulff, BSN, RN, found her way to nursing after working as a veterinary technician for eight years. As a registered vet tech, she discovered her love for medicine and science but was looking for increased responsibility and a fresh challenge.
It is with great pleasure that we announce the 2022 recipients of the CU College of Nursing Alumni Association Awards.
Fear. Trepidation. Excitement. All are natural emotions that nursing students face upon graduation. Doubting their readiness, many students ask themselves, “How am I ever going to be able to take on five patients at a time?”
Christopher Battelli graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Colorado College of Nursing in December 2021. Before graduation, Battelli’s girlfriend was applying for admittance into fellowship programs and was accepted by Stanford Hospital in California. Their plan was to move from Colorado to California immediately after Battelli earned his BSN.
“I always liked to study,” says University of Colorado College of Nursing alumna Noelle Dilgarde (DNP/MPH 2019, MS specializing in FNP 2014). But even for Dr. Dilgarde, earning a dual degree while working was a major challenge.
Sheila Tann, ND, APRN, CNS, CPNP-CP, found nursing after investigating the characteristics of various healthcare professions. The appeal for her was how nurses work with individuals, families, and communities. Nurses are trained to engage their patients differently from other providers, and for Dr. Tann, that sets them apart. She attests, “Nursing is the perfect combination of science and compassion.”
With their family’s roots in Southwest Colorado dating back to the early 20th century, Karen Zink and Steve Short are walking the walk of their ancestors. Their parents, Merl and Marilyn Short, taught the sister and brother the same values that their own parents and grandparents had imparted on them: serving others is why we’re here.
AURORA, Colo. (February 1, 2022) – Colleen Casper, RN, MS, DNP, is the 2022 recipient of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) Award for Excellence for advocacy in the state of Colorado.
Dr. Anna Ottney Cain was drawn to nursing through her passion for helping others. She earned her master’s degree in psychiatric nursing at the University of Colorado in 1959 and previously earned her bachelor’s in nursing at The Ohio State University in 1956.
Join us in celebrating Megan Champion and Chantal Dengah, the CU Nursing Alumni Association DAISY Awardees for 2021.
Lieutenant Colonel Christopher H. Stucky, PhD, RN, CNOR, CSSM, CNAMB, RN-BC, NEA-BC discusses CU, his career, and his nursing inspirations.
AURORA, Colo.(November 10, 2021) – Marnie McKercher, DNP, recently received recognition as the 2021 School Nurse Administrator of the Year, presented by the Colorado Association of School Nurses.
Maddie Nichols, PNP was part of the first Nurse Practitioner cohort of students led by renowned inventor of the NP Profession, Dr. Loretta C. Ford in 1965. Join us as we explore her journey throughout her nursing career.
The CU College of Nursing Alumni Association Board of Directors is excited to announce six new outstanding members. Alumni members of the Board serve 3-year terms with an option for a second term. Please join us in welcoming these alumnae to the Board!
MS Class of 1988 and FNP Class of 1997 alumna, Dixie Melton, learned leadership from CU Nursing professors, ultimately leading to operating her own practice.
The CU College of Nursing Alumni Association is recognizing four incredible alumni for their extraordinary contributions to the profession and community of nursing. The recipients will be celebrated at the CU Nursing Alumni Association Awards on June 10, 2021 at 5pm MDT.
When Sue Mower was cleaning out her cousin’s room at an assisted living facility where she lived prior to her death, she opened a kitchen cupboard and saw rows and rows of tiny disposable paper cups used to dispense medications. “I had to smile. It was a curious habit, but typical Evelyn,” said Mower.
Rhonda Whitten RN, CNM, APRN, has spent the majority of her career as a Midwife and a Women’s Health Practitioner. In March of 2020, Rhonda retired from the University of Cincinnati Hospital after caring for generations of women and their families.
Carol Harvey, MS Class of 1983, has spent her life surrounded by “superwomen”. Her mother was a clinical nurse specialist who didn’t particularly want to see any of her four daughters go into nursing. Harvey watched her older sisters become an attorney, a civil engineer, and a chemical engineer.
Simply put, Kelly Prado is a bicultural and bilingual board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, but as one can guess, there was nothing simple about her journey to get there.
Mary McMahon received her Master's in Nursing from the CU College of Nursing in 1984 and spent the majority of her nursing career in women's and infants' health. She was a director of perinatal care for more than 12 years, most recently at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. McMahon then served as a consultant in transformation services for three years. She graduated with the College of Nursing's Healthcare Informatics certificate in 2011.
Not long before his accidental death in an airplane crash, Karen Padrick’s husband (Kevin) came to her and asked if she wanted to give a significant donation to the University of Colorado School of Nursing. It took Padrick by surprise. “I didn’t have to think long, but it hadn’t really occurred to me,” she said.
Alumnus author of "The America that I Didn't Know Existed: Immigrant Experience in American Education."
Katie was born in Chelsea, Alabama July 8, 1933, and graduated from Vincent High School Class of 1953. She was loved throughout life for her goodwill and kindness toward others and was always willing to help friends and neighbors alike. To her three brothers and two sisters, Katie was the sister that went out from the family farm and made things happen.
CU Nursing alumna Ruby Martinez, PhD, RN, was recently awarded the 2020 Latino Legacy Award from the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN). Each year at the national conference, NAHN recognizes one member who has contributed to the nursing profession with commitment to advancing the health in Hispanic communities and to lead, promote and advocate the educational, professional, and leadership opportunities for Hispanic nurses. Like many national conferences, this year’s NAHN conference was held virtually in July due to coronavirus.
After graduating from CU Nursing with a BS in 2012, Cat Golden worked at Children’s Hospital Colorado and then Children’s Hospital of Michigan. “I was on the peds path and worked nights,” said Golden.
AURORA, Colo. June 18, 2020) Children's Hospital - In the past few months, the COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves throughout the nation's healthcare facilities. Like many other hospital systems, Children's Hospital Colorado was left grappling with a once-in-a-lifetime crisis. Because COVID-19 initially impacted adult populations and organizations caring for adults, pediatric hospitals have been left out of the broader conversation. Lindsey Tarasenko, PhD, RN, Magnet Program Director & Nurse Scientist, wants to change that.
We ask 3 Questions with CU College of Nursing MSN Alumna, December 2018 Kelly Fisher, RN, BSN, MSN, WHNP.
Searching for stability, Pat Hess found the nursing profession at a time when “women didn’t have much choice”. For Hess and many other women in the 1950s and 1960s, nursing offered a rare opportunity: choice. “Nursing opened up a lot of avenues – there are so many ways to be a nurse.” During Hess’s career, she was able to practice, teach, research, and innovate new programs.
Hess (left) during her time teaching in Japan
The second installment of CU Nursing’s Virtual Film Festival showcased a giant in nursing – Loretta Ford, (EdD ’61, MS ’51, BSN ’49) – with the documentary titled Loretta Ford: A Disruptive Innovator. Soon to be 100 years old, Dr. Ford proves that age is just a number.
The nationwide novel Coronavirus pandemic was the impetus for CU Nursing’s Virtual Film Festival and “Fireside chat”. Consisting of four documentaries/videos over five weeks, the Festival was the brainchild of alumna and former faculty member Sue Hagedorn (PhD ‘95).
For Oriana Cruz, CU Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner alumna (FNP ’18), she is one of those rare breeds who run toward danger. And run she did --- all the way to ground zero in New York City. “When I heard about the need in New York, I signed up with Krucial Staffing, a traveling nurse company based out of Kansas,” said Cruz. She was deployed almost immediately to Elmhurst Hospital.
Shannon Vogel Perry has dedicated her life to serving, whether through scholarship, in the classroom, or abroad. She graduated with her master's from the University of Colorado College of Nursing in 1971.
Please join us for a virtual film festival, presented by CU Nursing and Seedworks Films.
Similar to a book club, participants are encouraged to watch one of the following documentaries and then join us via Zoom Sundays at 3 p.m. (MST) for a lively chat hosted by Sue Hagedorn, PhD, RN, FAANP, FAAN. These "fireside" chats will include special guests Drs. Loretta Ford, Ginny Pepper, Jean Watson, Ms. Karen Zink and Dixie Melton, and Daniel Weinschenker. You're not going to want to miss it!
“I’ve been in nursing for 37 years and this was by far the best thing I’ve ever done,” said Debbie Roditski, NP, about earning her Palliative Care Certificate from CU Nursing in 2017.
Nancy Niles Frost’s career has been driven by her nursing inspiration and her passion for providing exemplary care.
Frost’s journey with the nursing profession started long before she stepped into the classroom. From a young age, she was inspired by her aunt, Mary Margaret Miller, who practiced nursing in many different settings. Remembering her aunt, Frost recounts the various stories she heard growing up. Mary Margaret served as a nurse in World War II, provided care on a Native American Reservation, and was an OR nurse – all while traveling with her husband who was a Marine. Later she became the nursing director at St. Anthony Hospital. Frost notes that three of her first cousins including Mary Margaret’s own daughter, Marilyn Miller (BSN, Class of 67) became nurses, following in the family footsteps.
From typhoid to smallpox to the Spanish Flu, we’ve had no shortage of epidemics in the US in the last 100 years and no shortage of nurses to help care for the ill. Now, it’s the coronavirus. Precautions were simple 100 years ago – isolation, bloodletting, inhaling steam and ice baths. But not very effective. In some ways, we’ve come a lot farther and in others, we are resorting to the same tried and true methods of containment. Digging deep into the CU Nursing archives at the Anschutz Medical Campus uncovered a real-life account of a nurse who helped battle the Spanish Flu of 1918 and survived one of the most devastating pandemics in history.
Kristen Wessel (BSN, ’19) was 4 years old when her grandmother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. She couldn’t spell the word, let alone understand the gravity of the disease.
Jillian Williams graduated from the UCAN Accelerated BSN Program in 2015 from the University of Colorado College of Nursing. Jillian is a pediatric relief charge nurse and outpatient infusion nurse at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado as well as a home care nurse for Tender Care Pediatric Services in Loveland, Colorado.
“At 13, I dropped out of school to take care of my siblings because my mother was extremely ill and my father left us,” said Yolande Ngounou, BSN ’19. A native of Cameroon (a Central African country), Ngounou recalled her childhood. “It was my job to help my family. I loved school so much, but I had to give it up.”
From the Challenger explosion that shook the nation to an earthquake that rocked Denver, some of Jan Sanko’s (BSN, ‘86) most memorable moments during her time with CU Nursing are tied to notable events.
On April 22, David “Scott” Ferguson died after battling melanoma. Ferguson was 49 and loved life. For him, that revolved largely around skiing, hiking, his gym clients, his dogs, his wife, his son and Jerry Garcia. Ferguson grew so touched by his nursing care before he died that he left behind the Scott Ferguson Memorial Fund. More than $60,000 has been raised so far to support scholarships for University of Colorado College of Nursing students. Ferguson’s goal: to help ensure compassionate care for future patients. The first scholarship will be awarded this spring.
For Rocco Miele, RN, nursing wasn’t always the career he held in his sights.
Initially, Miele worked as a construction consultant having attended the University of Colorado Boulder College of Engineering & Applied Science and University of Texas – San Antonio. His change in profession came under unfortunate circumstances.
Recent DAISY Award winner Anastacia Marks, BSN, found her love of nursing while on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus working as a pathology researcher.
Jennifer Franklin (BSN, ’07) knew a master’s degree would make her a better nurse. She just never thought it would happen so fast.
Only weeks into her College of Nursing Veteran and Military Health Care (VMHC) program, Franklin wrote a note thanking its creator, Professor Mona Pearl Treyball, PhD.
For the next 10 months, University of Colorado College of Nursing alumna Heather Mena (MSN, ’18) will roam the jungles and traverse the hills of Ecuador, learning the tricks of her trade from native women intent on saving their ancestral tradition.
Child Advocacy through Clinical Nursing
When asked how she sees herself, Dr. Lynn Howe Gilbert, PhD, CPNP, RNC, FAAN, has said that, even before nurse or teacher, her identity is primarily as a child advocate. She maintains that an important formative experience was a trip to visit many African countries emerging from colonialism with several other students from across the U.S. between her junior and senior years of high school in 1959.
Aurora Public Schools’ Lead School Nurse Consultant Marnie McKercher (aka Margaret McKercher) graduated in May 2018 with a Doctor of Nursing Practice and a master’s in Public Health from CU. As a nurse in one of the most diverse school districts in Colorado, McKercher wanted to enhance her role while forwarding the mission of improving student health.
Erin Blau (’17 DNP/MPH) was first exposed to the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) program with the CDC while she was pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Nursing degree at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
“I studied overseas and received a tremendous amount of rural nursing training. I fell in love with the role of the public health nurse, and that was it for me,” said Blau, who solidified her career choice by interacting with EIS officers during the dual degree DNP/MPH program at CU.
For Iris Heidenfelder, nursing is in her blood. Her maternal grandmother, Katherine Peterson (now known as Katherine Enloe-Miller), was a diploma nurse and graduated from the Mercy Hospital Program in the 1960s. Encouraged by a physician, Enloe-Miller applied twice to the University of Colorado School of Nursing’s Nurse Practitioner program and graduated in 1971.
What do you get when you put three alumni — all best friends in nursing school— together in the Nursing History Center? A trip down memory lane, of course.
In the 1960s, when Dorothy “Batton” Smith, Carol Campagna and Martha “Leahy” Staker were 20-something college students working toward MSN degrees, few nurses were continuing on to graduate school.
Sarah Williams chose the nursing profession for two reasons. From a young age, she felt the pull toward helping women during childbirth. Then, three years ago, her mother passed away from complications with diabetes. Unfortunately, the care that her mother received did not meet the family’s expectations. Inspired to better the system and fulfill her long-time goals, Williams landed on nursing as her career.
Kathryn Mathis discovered nursing when her daughter Lily contracted viral meningitis, which then developed into a serious brain injury. “I wanted to give back. The nurses inspired me… I don’t think I would have ended up here if Lily and I didn’t have that experience.”
Community Faculty Alumni Students
The University of Colorado College of Nursing and student nurses are encouraging the community to celebrate the nurse in your life during the month of May. Nurses Week runs from May 6 – May 12, which was the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. CU Nursing students appeared on CBS 4 Saturday morning to showcase the profession of nursing and some of the activities they have planned for the week including a 5K fun run at the Anschutz Medical Campus Sunday, May 5, and community blanket making for patients at Children’s Hospital on May 9th.
Karen Zink’s interest in nursing bloomed from her mother, Marilyn Mason Short, who worked as a diploma nurse. Diploma nursing was a hands-on, skills-oriented approach to training great hospital nurses. Many of Zink’s personality traits may be tied to her mother as well. Her mother was a leader for nursing in the southwest portion of the state and had a hand in the setup of the first emergency department in Mercy Hospital in Durango, Colo., where Zink grew up.
Zipporah Parks Hammond (1924-2011), BS ’46, was the University of Colorado College of Nursing’s first African-American graduate, overcoming the oppressive restrictions that kept black women of her era from pursuing higher education. Zipporah was a humanitarian and civil-rights champion, trailblazer, educator, volunteer, historical and cultural preservationist, mentor, philanthropist and a role model whose contributions to Colorado are both substantial and noteworthy.
Interview between Kim Pierce, the first African-American graduate from the CU College of Nursing’s DNP Program in 2009, and Dana Brandorff, Director of Marketing & Communication.
College of Nursing Marketing
October 03, 2023
The University of Colorado College of Nursing recently received a $2 million grant to increase the number of midwives in rural Colorado.
CBS4 Denver
September 15, 2023
The Denver Post
September 11, 2023
CPR
August 17, 2023
Molly Smerika
