Janice Dobson (BEd \u201920) can\u2019t remember a time when she didn\u2019t want to be a nurse. It was a dream she accomplished in life, but one halted by an injury decades into her career.<\/p>\n
Her impact in nursing will continue, however, as the recent Brock graduate works to teach the field\u2019s next generation.<\/p>\n
Brock\u2019s Fall Convocation on Friday, Oct. 16 marked a milestone in her journey to a second career, as Dobson, 56, graduated with a Bachelor of Education in Adult Education.<\/p>\n
She previously worked as a registered nurse in labour and delivery for 27 years. However, shoulder surgery in 2013 left her unable to return to bedside nursing.<\/p>\n
Dobson wasn\u2019t ready to retire and felt she still had too much to give. But without a degree, she had few opportunities for leadership roles in her field.<\/p>\n
She graduated high school as a registered nursing assistant and went on to complete a diploma in nursing at Centennial College. After transitioning away from bedside nursing, she found herself teaching nursing students at Centennial and enrolled in the Post-Diploma Degree Program in Nursing at Ryerson University.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought \u2018I\u2019ve found my second career. I want to teach,\u2019\u201d said Dobson. Looking back, she sees elements of teaching throughout her experience, particularly in labour and delivery nursing where nurses often teach patients how to care for babies.<\/p>\n
With a new goal in sight, she transferred from Ryerson to Brock\u2019s Adult Education Program in 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to give back,\u201d Dobson said of the new teaching venture. \u201cI had this wonderful career in nursing and look what I can do. I can teach tomorrow’s nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Returning to school after years in the field did not come without its challenges. As a mature student, Dobson had to balance home, work and school responsibilities. While completing her program, she continued to work at Centennial as a practical nursing clinical instructor and in a support role helping to co-ordinate clinical placements.<\/p>\n
Her students were eager to learn from her years of nursing expertise and she was able to empathize with their experiences as students. Dobson used what she was learning in her Brock classes to help her students succeed.<\/p>\n
As well as the challenges of balancing responsibilities, Dobson also had to learn how to write academic papers and put together presentations but persevered with the support of family and friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter would sometimes read my papers and give me feedback,\u201d she said of daughter Rachel Dobson (BRLS ’11), a Brock graduate and one of the reasons Dobson chose to pursue her degree at the University.<\/p>\n
Dobson recalls attending her daughter\u2019s graduation in 2011 and celebrating her family\u2019s first-ever university graduate.<\/p>\n
She remembers seeing the photo of her daughter celebrating the occasion with family and thinking she\u2019d loved to have a similar graduation photo of her own someday.<\/p>\n
While Brock\u2019s Virtual Fall Convocation was not what she originally imagined, Dobson is incredibly proud of earning her degree and of her family\u2019s support as she begins a new chapter.<\/p>\n
With her Bachelor of Education completed, she plans to teach nursing students as well as those in related health-care fields.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Janice Dobson (BEd \u201920) can\u2019t remember a time when she didn\u2019t want to be a nurse. It was a dream she accomplished in life, but one halted by an injury decades into her career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":68691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,40,1,4],"tags":[334,32,98,9600],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68690"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68690"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68701,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68690\/revisions\/68701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}