V - Z
Eva Mae Anderson Vraspir
1952, 1972
Recognized for the Adult Nurse Practitioner program which was established in several sites including St. Cloud, Grand Rapids, and Alexandria, she also created the first outstate opportunity for RN’s to attain a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree at Minnesota State University-Moorhead (Northwestern Minnesota).
Deborah Walker
1989
Recognized for her work as a Certified Nurse-Midwife, conducting research on the most effective ways to provide prenatal care, reduce preterm birth rates and educate future nurse-midwives. She also led three nurse-midwifery programs, including the founding of two such programs.
Susan Johnson Warner
1974, 1981
Recognized for her influence on health policy and passion for promoting of the nursing profession through political action at both the state and national level, including her successful leadership efforts to start a BSN program at St. Cloud State and save the nursing program at the University of South Dakota.
Verle Hambleton Waters
1948
Recognized as a remarkable nursing educator and an innovator in curriculum development. Her contributions include serving as the visionary founding director of San Jose College in 1960 – one of California’s first collegiate nursing programs. She mentored numerous young nursing educators and provided creative leadership and modeling of curriculum change nationally for associate degree nursing programs.
Mary Wellik
1969, 1989
Recognized as the director of Olmsted County Public Health Services, who engaged with community partners and persuaded local and state officials to support public health policy. Through her efforts, passage of Minnesota’s first county smoke-free ordinance strongly influenced passage of the state’s smoke-free law.
Martha Witrak
1977
Recognized for the innovation of a teaching learning tool, the Academic EHR, developed by the school and other health science faculty in partnership with the Center Corporation. The electronic health record was utilized to teach the discipline of nursing within the electronic environment where future practice will occur.
Mary Ellen Wurzbach
1993
Recognized for influencing the local, state and regional practice of nursing ethics and for developing one of the nation’s first undergraduate ethics courses. The program evolved over the years into an online course, one of the first Primary Health Care Ethics graduate courses for NP’s in the country and an end-of-life care course for RN’s returning to school.