If You are Considering Nursing, it is Probably for You. - Mary Katherine Conlan, Instructor

Single mom. Recently divorced. College credits in an unrelated field. In 1980, Ms. Mary Katherine Conlan had no reason to ever expect the future she would create. Prompted by a friend, she decided to look into an LPN program. Seeing that the program would accept her college credits and allow her to complete in under a year, she decided to take the plunge. After working full-time while studying, she began her first nursing job. Ms. Conlan was employed at Mercy Hospital until they closed their doors nineteen years later, in 1999.

A teaching hospital, Mercy Hospital was where Ms. Conlan learned many new skills until she could teach others herself. Completing her RN allowed her to take on leadership roles, such as floor nurse and charge nurse for Med-Surg, ICU, CCU and Neuro ICU.  She also passed her CCRN and began to teach ACLS and Critical Care Classes for the Mercy System. Her college work in South American studies benefited her during yearly volunteer work for a Dominican Republic medical mission. This act, along with her increased knowledge and skills, earned her the Nursing Excellence Award.

Life then began to change for Ms. Conlan in more unexpected ways. When Mercy Hospital closed, she was transferred to St Charles Hospital and accepted the position of Charge Nurse in CCU. She and the staff members became close friends, and she stays in touch with many of them to this day. However, her toddler child was then diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She could no longer work full-time, but she was not ready to hang up her scrubs. Ms. Conlan accepted a position as a Clinical Affiliate for an Infectious Disease Doctor. This allowed her to participate in hands-on work but at part-time hours.

Eventually, the time came to care for aging parents. She took many years off, giving family the TLC she had provided for strangers. When she sought part-time employment again, she found her home at Stautzenberger College. She became a clinical instructor in 2014 and has loved every minute of it.

Passionate about her profession, Ms. Conlan enjoys preparing students for their own nursing journeys. After all, it is easy to enjoy a job where you improve others' lives daily. Her teaching style is varied but energetic, adapting to meet individual students' needs. She particularly loves to flip the classroom and allow students to teach her, as there is always more to learn from others. Balance is prioritized in both her classroom and outside life, where she enjoys reading several books a week, walking in all types of weather, cooking, singing in the funeral choir, playing piano, and traveling to the Florence Nightingale Museum in London.

Ms. Conlan's advice to anyone interested in the nursing field is this: If you are considering nursing, it is probably for you. It is not a job, but a profession and a calling. There are so many avenues to pursue once you become a nurse, that you can find the right fit. Many people want to leave the world a better place, and this is guaranteed if you become a nurse! If you would like to meet Ms. Conlan at the Maumee Campus or learn more, simply submit the Request Information form at the top of the page or call 888.859.8225. Come learn how you can change the world, one patient at a time.

At Stautzenberger College, we hire passionate instructors like Ms. Conlan.  Whether you take classes with Ms. Conlan or one of our other instructors, our students say one reason they chose Stautzenberger College is because of our caring, passionate instructors. You might click out of this window. You might go about your day and forget that you read this. You may push off submitting the request information form until later; but, in five years, will you regret not taking action today?

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