Debra Wollaber
I'm a nurse!
I also happen to be the Dean of the College of Health Sciences
and the School of Nursing. I am a good example of how a
baccalaureate nursing education can give you the foundation you
need for roles you never thought you would assume. Nursing is so
much more than working in a hospital!
My nursing career began at my grandmother Gladys Bertha Reynolds
Bond's knee. She graduated from Hartford Hospital Training
School for Nurses in 1916. When I was a child I read her nursing
journals often, and she talked with me about what it was like to be
a maternal-infant nurse. It was no surprise that I decided to
specialize in Maternal-Child Health nursing as well.
I began work at Albany Medical Center in New York State as a labor-and-delivery, post-partum, and nursery nurse (both newborn and neonatal intensive care). I loved it! There is something so very special about working with mothers, fathers, babies, and their siblings. It is an honor to be present at a birth! At that time I believed wholeheartedly I would remain at the bedside for the duration of my career. However, experiences I had later had changed my career trajectory. Nursing prepares you to be flexible and to create opportunities for yourself as you grow in your profession. That was certainly the case for me. I became interested in teaching nursing and I obtained my Master's in Parent-Child Nursing and my Ph. D. in Child and Family Studies. Both of those educational experiences helped prepare me for what I do today.
Nursing is an exciting profession. Although the public thinks that the majority of nursing occurs in hospitals, nursing prepares you to do so much more than that. There are many careers within nursing itself. In fact, when I eventually step down from this position, I may return to what I loved doing early in my career - helping families make the transition to parenthood.
