Dr. Margot Nelson
Associate Professor of Nursing
B.A. Augustana College
M.A. Texas Women's University
M.A. USD
Ph. D. University of Minnesota

Where did you grow up and go to school? How did you come to Augustana?
I grew up in Western South Dakota, Rapid City to be exact. I graduated from Augustana's nursing program and then many years later from Texas Women's University with a Master's in Nursing and from the USD School of Medicine with a Master's in physiology. I received my Ph. D. in nursing from the University of Minnesota. I've lived mostly in the Sioux Falls area, although I spent seven years in the Twin Cities for graduate school.

How did your life's path lead you to Augustana?
As above, I came to Augustana for college and went to work at Avera McKennan Hospital (then McKennan Hospital) after graduation. I frequently encountered students in my clinical practice and was asked to substitute for a faculty member on the surgical unit where I worked for a short time. Later I was invited to teach part-time, then full time, at Augustana while I practiced and took graduate courses. I went to graduate school, fully expecting not to return on a permanent basis. But here I am, continuing to be challenged and to be part of a stellar faculty and a superb health care community.

What led you to teach instead of continuing your nursing practice?
For many years I chose the best of both worlds. I practiced part-time and taught part-time. The most gratifying aspect of nursing practice is the privilege of being with people as they try to understand, cope, with and plan for transition related to their health, illness, birth of new life, and dying. Nurses contribute to the quality of people's lives and health, easing pain and suffering, promoting health and wholeness, and improving the quality of their dying. Teaching provides an opportunity to share my skills, my knowledge and my passion for nursing and for learning; but even more, it is an opportunity to participate in the development of promising students into fully engaged professionals, community members and whole human beings. I know that sounds pretty lofty; so in simple terms, teaching about something I love is a unique and wonderful privilege that magnifies my contributions as a nurse.

Why should a student study nursing at Augustana?
The most unique aspects of nursing at Augustana are related to the context in which nursing occurs. The college is a community of scholars dedicated to providing opportunities for students to explore and reflect upon the meaning of their lives, to question, to challenge, and to grow. The nursing program builds on this broad-based education and fully engages students in clinical nursing practice as a bridge to their becoming professionals. Students participate in health care provision in many agencies and settings in the Sioux Falls area, where they are able to encounter state-of-the-art health care and where they are accepted as important contributors as well as learners.

Augustana celebrates our five core values: Christian, excellence, liberal arts, community and service. How are those ideas incorporated into the nursing program?
The College's five values provide the basis for the nursing program. Students are invited to live their faith in their personal growth as well as in their journey towards a vocation. They do this in their own search for meanings nada in their encounters with individuals, families and groups. They are called upon to respond with compassion and create sacred space for health and healing.

Excellence is cultivated through nurturing students' potential, challenging their intellect, building their competence, and fostering their creativity and commitment to personal and professional growth. Teaching/learning processes in the nursing program are designed from a liberal arts perspective. In particular, students are given opportunities to become aware of their own values and ethical beliefs, to hear from the voice of others through relationship and presence, to embrace change and learn how to live with ambiguity, and to apply a broad foundation of knowledge and skills from the arts and sciences. In may ways, nursing is the quintessential liberal arts discipline!

Students experience community in many different ways as they are challenged to respect human diversity and uniqueness in their encounters with interdisciplinary colleagues as well as patients and families. The community is the context for all of health care, and many specific learning experiences take place in schools, homes, and other agencies that serve the Sioux Falls community.

The nursing curriculum provides students the opportunity to develop leadership incrementally across the curriculum. Student learning activities facilitate their increasing assumption of responsibility for collaborative clinical practice with members of other disciplines, for setting priorities first with individual patients and later with groups of patients and a team of care providers. They also learn about the nurse's professional role in health policy development.

Do you feel that study abroad is important for nursing students?
I believe study abroad is very important for all students. Health care and other elements of our lives are global in nature and will continue to become moreso. The opportunity to glimpse the world through others' lenses in even a small way helps do develop us as more respectful, honorable human beings. In the nursing program, we are encouraging both faculty and students to engage in international experiences through student and faculty exchange and through planning for collaborative research with international colleagues.

Have you taught or studied in another country?
I have had the opportunity to be a visiting professor in Australia and to meet with faculty in several university colleges in Norway. Both have been life-changing experiences for me!

Read any good books lately?
Two of the books I read most recently is Maya Angelou's autobiographical work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Willa Cather's My Antonia.

Do you have current research interests?
My most recent research has been related to improving end-of-life care for individuals, families and communities, and I have been able to engage both undergraduate and graduate nursing students in this research.

What are some of your interests outside of Augustana?
I love the outdoors, my children and grandchildren, and travel.

Do you have a favorite class to teach?
I currently teach research, ethics, and health policy in our graduate nursing program; and I love the interaction with students who are already in practice and are committed to the continual improvement of health care. Their interactions with each other enrich the learning for all of us! I also teach undergraduate students, and I particularly love the clinical teaching opportunities where students bring what they are learning to life in those "aha" moments with real people in real health care situations.

Do you interact with students outside the classroom?
I have the privilege of going with students into their clinical practice arenas, but I also attend many events where students are engaged, including athletic, theater, and musical events.

What is the most unexpected thing that you've experienced during your time at Augustana?
Over and over again, every year in fact, I have the opportunity welcome and come to know new students, to watch them grow and excel, and to launch them into the larger world. The unexpected delight is that many of them return - sometimes as faculty - but always as alums who found Augustana to be a critical element in their becoming who they are. As one of my own faculty mentors once said, "we send them out expecting them to stand on our shoulders, to go well beyond where we are." And they do! There can be nothing better for a teacher!

If you could give prospective students one piece of advice as far as their college search, what would it be?
Think about the most important things you want from a college experience so that you can compare potential sites. Go visit the campuses you are considering. Talk to students about their experiences, and talk to the faculty. Listen to your intuition about the feel of the place; it will be your community for a significant length of time.

What is the best thing about being a part of the Augustana community?
I would say the best thing is the sense of community at Augustana - among students, faculty and staff. Beyond that, we are very connected to the community that surrounds us and of which we are a part. Augie is a very special place because of the people who teach and learn and explore in dialogue with each other in this space.