School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science

In between delivering babies and taking graduate nursing classes at the College, Kelly Mitchell ’09 serves as an assistant coach for the field hockey and lacrosse teams she once played on.

If you ever lose something and then get a sinking feeling, take heart that it’s nothing like Alex Okuniewicz’s experience.

Gina Carey-Smith ’93 jokes that one of her goals during TCNJ women’s lacrosse season is to get fellow coach Robin Selbst ’96 to laugh more often. Selbst takes it in stride, knowing many people focus on her serious side.

For Andrew Fruhschien ’08, the urge to heal and teach came early. The decision to combine the two—as a nurse practitioner—was more circuitous.

Nurses are assuming an ever-larger role in health care, but an impending faculty shortage threatens the sector’s ability to educate the growing number of nurses needed to meet the demands. Here is a look at the role TCNJ faculty, alumni, and students are playing in solving the problem.

In healthcare settings, a near-miss event is a situation that has the potential to cause injury to a patient but is averted due to timely intervention on the part of staff. Though long overlooked as merely being close calls, near misses are receiving closer examination these days as hospital administrators seek ways to prevent and correct problems before they occur.

Jen Garrison ’10, a nursing major at The College of New Jersey, spent two weeks of winter break in Uganda, doing medical volunteer work through the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC).

Professor Avery Faigenbaum, one of the nation’s leading pediatric exercise scientists, says that children as young as 7 can reap the benefits of a properly prescribed and supervised strength-training program.

Alexis Mandato ’13, a nursing major from Jackson, New Jersey, competed in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic program and broke a state floor record.

Bisi Okoya ’13, a health and exercise science major from Trenton, New Jersey, joins TCNJ’s Bonner program this year with a strong community service background from volunteering at such places as the Boys & Girls Club and a Trenton library.