She’s shaped generations of nurses and nursing faculty as leader of the UNMC College of Nursing West Nebraska Division and in her education, research, outreach and patient care activities.
Dr. Betts named
Kelly Betts, Ed.D., has been named assistant dean for the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing West Nebraska Division in Scottsbluff, effective Aug. 13. A story about Dr. Betts will run in UNMC Today on Thursday.
Susan "Suz" Wilhelm, Ph.D., will step down Aug. 13 as assistant dean of the division, but will continue in her role as assistant professor. Kelly Betts, Ed.D., has been named assistant dean, effective Aug. 13.
"Teaching nursing students and mentoring new faculty and graduate assistants became a career-long passion," Dr. Wilhelm said. "I have had a great team. …We are so fortunate to have access to all the university resources in our rural area."
Her academic nursing career began in 1981 teaching maternal/child nursing at West Nebraska General Hospital’s nursing diploma program. Dr. Wilhelm has a clinical background in obstetrics and has held nursing positions in several states in the Midwest. The leadership skills she developed as a perinatal manager in a Dallas-area hospital would later help her as assistant dean.
In 1990, she began teaching maternal and child health nursing part-time at the College of Nursing West Nebraska Division and in 2005 was named assistant dean. Academic career highlights include conducting research with three Native American tribes to promote health of children and studies to promote sustained breastfeeding in rural women, two Native American Tribes, and Hispanic mothers.
"I am more sensitive to health disparities in these populations as a result of conducting research," she said.
Other highlights include conducting workshops for rural nurses on fetal monitoring, neonatal resuscitation, and breastfeeding support. She also led the division as champions of the new iEXCEL multi-sensory learning modality. She also received the Nebraska State Nurse of the Year Award and the Teaching Excellence award.
Dr. Wilhelm said Juliann Sebastian, Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing, has been a wonderful mentor for her. "Dr. Sebastian has mentored me in the art of appreciative inquiry and other leadership qualities."
Other than teaching part-time, she plans to care for her parents, play with her five grandchildren, read more books, go bike riding, hiking, and, hopefully, skiing.
Congratulations, Suz, and thanks for your many years of great work leading the West Nebraska Division CON campus!