Class notes

Oriana Beaudet, DNP ’17, spoke on the panel Climate Crisis or Opportunity? Nursing Actions for a Healthy Future during the United Nations Civil Society Conference.

Col. Ada Collier, DNP ’17, was promoted to serve as the Individual Mobilization Augmentee to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight at the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. She works for the Department of Defense Military Health System with a specialty in the Reserves. This includes the system in the United States and in combat.

Maggie Leary, BSN ’17, accepted a position as charge nurse for Fresenius Kidney Care in Hayward, Wisconsin.

Tina Bettin, DNP ’08, received the Clintonville Public School District’s distinguished Alumnus Honoris award. She graduated from Clintonville High School in 1981 and has been a nurse practitioner at ThedaCare Physicians in New London and Manawa since 2000. Bettin is currently a Wisconsin State Representative for the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and has been involved in the Rural Health Care Initiative that reaches outlying farm communities while giving back to her profession by teaching future students about the importance of excellent medical care.

Shane Garner, BSN ’08, was one of six recipients of the 2019 Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice given by University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Garner is a nurse anesthetist at Ripon Medical Center in Ripon, Wisconsin.

Kelly Stursa Suzan, MS ’08, was awarded a Geiger Gibson Health Policy Fellowship at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University.

Brooke Geiselman Harle, BSN ’07, began serving as a family nurse practitioner at Fairview Range in Hibbing, Minnesota. Harle has previously worked at Essentia Health Clinics in Hibbing and Chisholm, and at the University of Minnesota-Fairview in the organ transplant unit, providing patient-centered care to organ recipients and organ donors.

Thomas Olson, PhD ’91, MS ’79, was named the director of the School of Nursing at Cal State University San Marcos. He has held administrative or teaching roles in nursing schools at universities since the early 1990s. His clinical focus is on psychiatric-mental health nursing, with a special interest in mindfulness training, anxiety and addiction. He has conducted funded research on obsessive-compulsive disorder and the evolution of nursing education.

Cynthia Bultena, MS ’87, accepted the position as Chief Nursing and Patient Officer at St. Peter’s Health in Helena, Montana.

Margo Bachel Karsten, BSN ’84, is the chief executive officer for Banner Health in northern Colorado, where she provides overall leadership for North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, McKee Medical Center in Loveland, Banner Fort Collins Medical Center in Fort Collins, as well as area off-site facilities operated by the hospitals, and president of Banner Health’s Western Region where she oversees 11 acute and critical access hospitals in six states. Margo has recently been appointed co-leader of the women in leadership diversity and inclusion team for 50,000 employees.

Kathryn Davis Messerich, MS ’84, was selected by the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) to receive its 2019 Trial Judge of the Year Award. ABOTA is an organization of trial lawyers whose mission is to preserve the right to a civil jury trial guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and to elevate the standards of integrity, honor, ethics, civility and courtesy in the legal profession. Messerich’s chambers are located in the Dakota County Judicial Center in Hastings.

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