Nursing professor Carol Kleyer
Teaching comes second nature to new nursing Prof. Carol Kleyer. Her daughter, who is pursuing a degree in nursing at the present, was most influential in Kleyer’s decision to return to her roots.
Kleyer grew up on a farm near Orange City, where she lived with her parents and two younger brothers. Her dad was a farmer and her mom taught in an elementary school, worked at the public library and stayed home and helped with the farm when Kleyer and her brothers were younger.
Kleyer set out on her nursing adventure at Northwestern before transferring to Morningside to receive her Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN). She is currently completing a Masters degree at Briar Cliff University.
“Nursing has an educational component,” Kleyer describes. “The decision to become a nurse educator was a natural progression for me because you are teaching all the time, whether it be the patient, the patient’s family, or other team members.”
When she’s not teaching, Kleyer enjoys reading, walking and spending time with her family, which includes her husband, her two grown children, her dog Oscar and a few “grandpets” (no grandchildren yet!). As a hint to all future nursing students, Kleyer divulged that she loves anything chocolate, the color Caribbean blue and classical music.
It was fitting that the open position was near her home, but her reasons for returning to NW go deeper than that. “I wanted to teach nursing at a bachelors level,” she reveals, “I also happen to believe that Northwestern’s nursing program and students are great!”
