The University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing has selected
Patricia Trausch, as its 1999 recipient of the Rosalee C. Yeaworth Teaching
Excellence Award. Trausch teaches acute care nursing at the UNMC College
of Nursing Kearney Division.
Thirty-eight nominations were received for this years award.
Criteria for the award includes inspiring students, creating a caring
learning environment, creativity in teaching, make a lasting impression
on students and serving as a positive role model of a nurse educator. In
1979, Dr. Yeaworth became the fourth dean of the UNMC College of Nursing
in Omaha and served in this position for 15 years. She continues to teach
at the college as emeritus professor of nursing.
I am honored to have received this award named after Dr. Rosalee Yeaworth
and sincerely thank those who nominated me, said Trausch, who has taught
at UNMC for eight years. I am surrounded by wonderful faculty, staff and
students in Kearney who teach me so much and help me to grow.
Trausch graduated with a bachelors degree in nursing in 1981 from the
University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago and in 1989 earned a masters
degree in nursing from the University of Colorado Health Science Center
in Denver. She worked as a staff nurse from 1971 to 1997 in Omaha, Evanston,
Ill., Chicago, Ill., Denver, Colo., and Kearney, Neb.
Trauschs nominators said she is an exceptional teacher.
Pat epitomizes the essence of an expert nurse educator, wrote a faculty
nominator. Her dedication to creating an optimum learning environment
for students both in the classroom and in the clinical setting is outstanding,
consistent and worthy of recognition. Students are always top priority
on Pats long list of responsibilities.
Pat has a passion for nursing and for us as future nurses, and it shows
through her teaching, wrote one student nominator. She has an intense
desire for students to understand what she teaches.
She is a very understanding and caring instructor, a professional and
a friend. She is someone you can easily talk to and depend on if needed,
wrote another student.
Judith Sims Billings, Ph.D., assistant dean of the UNMC College of Nursing
Kearney Divisions, said besides excelling in teaching, Trausch is a volunteer
advisor for a local student nurse association.
She works tirelessly with students to help them increase their professionalism
by being active in their professional organization, Dr. Sims Billings
said. She advises and assists the association through money-making projects,
advocacy projects and state leadership.
Trausch was presented with an engraved plaque and a cash reward.
The UNMC College of Nursing is the largest nursing school in the state
with a total of more than 700 students at its Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney and
Scottsbluff campuses. It is the only nursing school in the state to offer
undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees.
UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the state.
Through its commitment to research, education, outreach and patient care,
UNMC has established itself as one of the country’s leading centers for
cancer research and treatment and solid organ transplantation. More than
$34 million in research grants and contracts are awarded to UNMC scientists
annually.
In addition, UNMC’s educational programs are responsible for training
more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution.