Promising nurse educators receive prestigious scholarships

Graduate students Roland Tuquero and Alli Walsh have both been awarded two external scholarships to support their goals and passion of someday teaching future nurses.

Tuquero has worked as a nurse anesthetist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Ann Arbor for 10 years and pursuing a Post-Master's DNP with hopes of teaching students in a clinical setting. 

Throughout his nursing career, his interactions with students inspired him to set his long-term goal to teaching full time as a second career. Tuquero was recently awarded the NEF (Georgette Viellion) Scholarship (awarded by Nurses Educational Funds, Inc.), which is dedicated to supporting the nursing education of a doctoral student with the goal of becoming a full-time faculty member. The Georgette Viellion Scholarship was established in 2021 from a generous donation of $50,000. The scholarship aims to prepare nurse educators with expertise to teach future nurses.

“One thing I would say about the College of Nursing is they are there to support,” mentions Tuquero. “My colleagues were incredibly supportive during the application process, especially Dr. Gayle Lourens, my faculty advisor, who helped write a letter of recommendation. Many faculty members here have inspired me to pursue teaching.” 

At first, Tuquero felt surprised after this achievement, as there were so many worthy applicants who applied to the NEF program. 

“I am very humbled and honored,” said Tuquero. “I hope to pay it forward – that's my goal. I would like to help create more leaders. I hope to serve, inspire and transform other colleagues' lives through my life.” 

In the future, Tuquero would like to focus on simulation, potentially joining the college’s sim lab.

Similar to Tuquero, Walsh followed her ambition to teach by landing an external scholarship to support her education. Walsh is a second-year PhD student who is focusing on adolescent psychiatric mental health. Inspired by patient experiences, Walsh found that there wasn’t much existing research on middle school-aged children when it came to social media’s effects on mental health. She has been conducting her own research while simultaneously working as a registered nurse on an adolescent floor on the weekends at Mott Children’s Hospital. 

“I would love to get the word out there about obtaining a PhD in nursing,” says Walsh. “Expanding the PhD program benefits both students and healthcare. We need more nurse voices when it comes to the development of guidelines for practice.”

Recently, Walsh was selected to join the 2024-2026 Jonas Scholar cohort. The Jonas Scholars program aims to improve health care by expanding the pool of PhD- and DNP-prepared nurses needed to educate the next generation of nurse leaders. Walsh was excited for the opportunity to work toward her future goals of continuing education.
“It was a sign to myself that I'm doing some quality work and I have the potential to do more quality work,” says Walsh. “There are people who believe in me.”

Walsh found inspiration from assistant professor Emma Schlegel who motivated Walsh to pursue her PhD after working with her on research in her undergrad. 

“I am inspired by a drive to always improve and create widespread positive change through research,” says Walsh. “I believe that the field of nursing is always changing, and nursing students deserve quality mentors and current information.” 

Walsh someday hopes to mentor students who are pursuing graduate degrees. 

“The College of Nursing laid the foundation of what it means to be a good nurse,” she said, “Not just a nurse who shows up who to do their job but goes above and beyond.” 

Published August 2024