April 27, 2012 - Cherie Lowell, who received her bachelor of science in nursing degree in 2000, has been named the University of Wyoming Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing's 2012 Distinguished Alumna.
Lowell will be honored for her outstanding contributions to the nursing profession during the school's convocation ceremony Saturday, May 5, at 1:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center concert hall. She is the event's keynote speaker.
After becoming a registered nurse (RN) following her graduation from UW, Lowell worked as an RN in Georgia and then in Utah. She quickly rose to an administrative role, being placed as the director of surgical services for Mountain West Medical Center in Tooele, Utah, only three years after graduation. She remained in that position for seven years while she completed her master of science in nursing degree with an emphasis in health care administration. At that time, she took over as director of clinic operations in the same medical center.
From a letter sent to support her nomination for the award, the recommender noted:
"Lowell is an exceptional administrator and nurse. Cherie has been asked to manage two of the most challenging departments in our organization and has exceeded senior management expectations in doing so. She is responsible for growing our surgical volumes by 20 to 30 percent a year, while maintaining quality and structural control of a complex and demanding department. She managed a multifaceted expansion (doubled capacity) of our surgical physical plant in such a way that operations were not impaired, and grew volumes during this complicated construction process."
Following her years of service to the Mountain West Medical Center, Lowell was named director of the operating room at St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City, where she oversaw 14 operating rooms and approximately 90 staff members.
While at Mountain West Medical Center and continuing until this year, she also was a clinical nursing instructor and progressed to preceptor coordinator. She supervised associate degree nursing students in clinical locations, securing clinical sites for the nursing program; and was responsible for developing and fostering relationships with hospitals and community sites.
This year, she was named associate dean of nursing for an online nursing program in Salt Lake City.
Source: University of Wyoming
