Nursing professor Diane Smith
Using God-given talents to help those in need is something Northwestern students and staff strive for. Dianne Smith, who has recently joined the full-time faculty at NW, is no different.
Originally from rural Plymouth County, Smith began her education by getting her R.N. at St. Joseph’s Mercy School of Nursing and completed her bachelor’s and master’s at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. She began her nursing career in Orange City and has returned to “give back” to her discipline. She chose Northwestern based on the commitment to community and she is excited to help Northwestern students find their calling, which may just happen to be Christian nurses.
Nursing has always been a passion for Smith. “It has been my lifelong calling to be a servant of Christ through nursing,” she says. She also is an ardent historical researcher and she enjoys archiving the nursing history of Siouxland. In fact, she will be travelling to Royal Holloway University of London, England, later this month to be a presenter at the 27th Annual Conference for the American Association for the History of Nursing. Her presentation is entitled “Poliomyelitis Epidemics in Siouxland: The Impact on the Community and Public Health 1952-1967.”
Smith teaches nursing courses such as Critical Care & Community Health, Nursing: Discerning Your Vocation and Informatics. “Northwestern’s nursing program is truly unique in the way that it promotes shalom, hope and healing.” The mission statement and overall function of Northwestern’s nursing department is really what called her here to Northwestern. She has already seen the qualities that nursing students at Northwestern possess: compassion, knowledge, and the “aura of Christian charity.” She is looking forward to her work with nursing students here.
