MCN Talks is a bimonthly series designed to give voice to different members of the MCN community. Twice a month, faculty, students, and staff are asked questions related to healthcare, education, or life in the nursing program at ISU.
[MCN] What is the most rewarding part of your role at MCN?
Janeen Mollenhauer, Associate Dean for Academic Support: The best part of my job is working with a really dynamic team of people who each bring their own strengths and who are genuinely invested in making the student experience a good one. Faculty and staff work together to collaborate on projects with energy and passion. There is nothing better than contributing to a discipline that, in the end, truly saves lives. That is an incredible feeling!
Heather Winfrey-Richman, Assistant to the Associate Dean for Academics and Program Directors: I really enjoy the people that I work with. Probably the most rewarding part is the faculty and how incredibly talented, grateful, and genuine they all are. They aren’t, in any way, fake. They are just genuinely nice people who care about our students, who care about the staff, and who care about the university community in general.
Melissa Moody, Academic Adviser for Graduate Programs, Transcultural Coordinator: I still love admitting and meeting new graduate students who are excited about building on their academic journey. They come in with a lot of energy and motivation, and that’s quite contagious. And then on the transcultural side of things, I really enjoy working with students who are about to embark on possibly their first journey abroad and seeing the excitement and jitters that come along with that. It’s always such a growing, learning experience for them, and it’s very exciting to send them on their first transcultural nursing experience.
Cindy Malinowski, Instructional Assistant Professor: The most rewarding part of my role here is working with the students. We get incredible students. I enjoy getting to work with them and see them grow within my course. I teach some courses in the nursing simulation lab. Because of this, I get to work with a lot of students in their first semester and then I get to see them at the end and see how they’ve changed. Hopefully, I can influence them to be the very best nurse that they can be. Not to just pass the class, or just to get an ‘A’ but to really be excellent nurses. I think that’s the most rewarding part.
Emily McMahon, Director of Marketing & Recruitment: In my role, I have privilege of being tasked with telling the stories of the MCN community. I speak with current students, faculty, staff and MCN alumni. I am constantly blown away by the incredible people attached to this college. The first few weeks after I started in August of ’17, I kept thinking to myself, “Can this be real? Can these people really be so thoughtful, caring, and passionate about their work?”
The answer is yes. Our faculty members light up when they are working with students. People leave MCN feeling like they have a family here, and you don’t see that at every university.
About Us |
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Janeen Mollenhauer – Associate Dean Academic Support |
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Heather Winfrey-Richman – Assistant to the Associate Dean for Academics and Program Directors |
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Melissa Moody – Academic Adviser for Graduate Programs, Transcultural Coordinator |
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Cindy Malinowski – Instructional Assistant Professor |
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Emily McMahon – Director of Marketing & Recruitment |
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