Turrin and Walldan named Faculty of the Year at CMC Summit Campus
By Stefanie Kilts
Going into the health care field is no small feat, but Colorado Mountain College students in Breckenridge and Dillon have two instructors who use their many years of experience and expertise to help students succeed.
Carol Turrin, full-time associate professor, and Dr. Jannine Walldan, adjunct faculty, were nominated for their excellence in teaching and named top instructors for the year at Colorado Mountain College’s Summit Campus, which consists of the college’s locations in Dillon and Breckenridge. Walldan had the added surprise of being named the collegewide adjunct of the year.
Every year, each of Colorado Mountain College’s seven campuses, as well as the college’s department of online learning, can nominate adjunct and full-time instructors for the faculty of the year award. From those honorees, senior administrators then select a collegewide award recipient in each of the two categories.
Walldan is a relatively new instructor – she started at CMC in May of 2010 – but in that short time, she has shown her co-workers her exceptional ability to teach tough courses and provide individual feedback for each of her students.
Walldan graduated from Carthage College in Wisconsin with a bachelor’s in biology and Spanish. She then moved to Seattle to attend Bastyr University and received a master’s in acupuncture and a doctorate of naturopathic medicine. After graduating in 2007, she moved to Summit County in 2008 and started her natural medicine practice in Breckenridge.
She had no prior experience in teaching but when she was contacted by an anatomy instructor about teaching at CMC, she decided to give it a try. She currently teaches Anatomy and Physiology, along with online versions of these courses, and a basic science course for non-science majors. Most of her students are getting into nursing, she said, but she also has paramedics, physical therapy, pre-med, naturopathic and acupuncture students.
“I talk a lot about what I do as a doctor,” she said. “I think my stories inspire the students.”
Walldan balances teaching with working at the Summit Community Care Clinic a couple days a week and maintaining her practice. And it’s the perfect balance right now, she said.
“Having my practice really adds to my ability to teach effectively and have up-to-date information on medical issues,” she said.
Walldan enjoys the engagement and critical thinking her students bring to class, especially since most students have already established concrete interests in fields of medicine, she said.
“I like that we have such a great mix of students at CMC,” she said. “We have first-time and second-career students. The second-career students are extremely driven and their life experiences really add to the mix.”
As for the award, Walldan admits she was shocked to learn of the honor and credits all the instructors who helped her develop her teaching skills.
“I had a lot of help along the way,” she said. “And I am continuing to learn. I want to continue to provide everything my students need to move on in their medical careers.”
Inspiring students to build careers in health
Turrin, a nursing faculty member in Breckenridge, has probably done most everything in the nursing profession. Not only was she a full-time nurse for 41 years, she has two master’s degrees (an MBA and an MSN), plus four decades of experience in clinical and administrative nursing positions, including various roles at Summit Medical Center from 1982 to 2005. But there’s one thing she didn’t think she would be.
“I never imagined I would be a teacher,” Turrin said.
One day a nursing instructor contacted Turrin last-minute about filling in for a day at a clinical at Grace Healthcare in Glenwood Springs.
“I just showed up,” she said. “I didn’t even know the students’ names but I remember thinking afterward, ‘This is fun.’”
She interviewed for an open nursing position at the college and was hired shortly afterward. And the profession suits her well; this is Turrin’s second time receiving the campus faculty of the year award.
“Now I’ll never leave, I love it,” she said.
Turrin, who has lived in Summit County for more than 30 years, teaches three nursing courses and simulation laboratory experiences each semester. To better assist her students, Turrin finished her master’s degree in nursing a year ago.
“Nursing is a difficult profession,” she said. “I want to empower my students to trust themselves and have confidence from day one.”
And with Turrin’s teaching, students are excelling in the nursing program. Regulations require every college’s pass rates for the difficult NCLEX nursing exam to be at or above the national average, which is in the mid-80 percent range. The college’s graduates normally test in the mid-90s.
But “that wasn’t good enough,” Turrin said. This past year, 100 percent of her nursing students passed the exam the first time around. And Turrin doesn’t see an end to her teaching, as she forms a special bond with each incoming class.
“I need to make sure they all get through the nursing program,” she said.