The second instructor to be featured in a series highlighting the new faculty members at SWOSU is Marianne Wood. Wood is a nursing instructor who earned her nursing degree from SWOSU and she now teaches alongside many of her former professors.
“I grew up in both northern Utah and Las Vegas, Nevada. I worked in the entertainment industry for a while, serving in restaurants and bar tending in the casinos,” she said.
Wood said seeing celebrities was a “day-to-day” occurrence, and her husband even worked in organizing and coordinating shows in Las Vegas.
However, the pair decided to move to Oklahoma in 2013 to provide their kids with a different experience.
“It was a big change. It was the change we were looking for, though,” Wood said. “We really wanted to get our kids to somewhere more family-oriented.
We both grew up in Las Vegas so we thought let’s go a different route.”
Wood was already working as a nurse’s assistant before moving to the area, but she decided to pursue her dream of being an RN by taking classes at SWOSU.
“This is where I grew to love academia. I love being nurse,” she said. I had the opportunity to teach as a clinical adjunct for the program last year and fell in love even more with that, watching these students progress and grow and being part of that was just awesome.”
If there is one thing students take away from her class, she wants them to “keep learning.” Wood said, “Don’t stop asking questions. It doesn’t matter how experienced a nurse you are, or how experienced an educator I become, you’re never going to know everything. Just keep growing and learning.”
Faculty fast facts
Go-to coffee order: “Dirty chai latte, hot. I don’t care if it’s the middle of the summer.”
Favorite TV show: “We just finished ‘Better Call Saul’, and I love watching ‘Stranger Things’ with the kids.”
Dream vacation: “I would love to go back to Mexico, probably on the Caribbean side. It’s my favorite.”
Favorite meal: Salmon Best Christmas gift received as a child: My Little Pony castle A book she could read over and over: Any of the Harry Potter books A day that’s not a holiday but should be: “There should be a Hiking Day.
Everyone go outside and hike.”