I would like to reflect on a nurse educator within my BSN program at UT-Houston. Her name is Dr.

Kristin Ownby. Dr. Ownby was an exceptional educator and personal mentor. She was an oncology nurse
and often lectured in the medical surgical course in school. She was also a clinical instructor of mine. The
positive attributes that she exhibited are numerous, but I will only expand on a few. As a lecturer, Dr.
Ownby was knowledge about the current trends in nursing and patient care. This was extremely
important to me as a student because some of the instructors seemed stuck in the old days and did
not update their material to current literature and practice standards. I hope to learn this and constantly
update and revise material as she did. Another attribute is that she was punctual. She always started
class on time and ended it on time. She showed great respect for the students time and that was very
memorable to me. She was also extremely intelligent. She was able to have complex and detailed
conversations about clinical patients and their oncology diagnoses and treatments. This was a wonderful
clinical experience because she was able to provide insight and education to me as a student. Another
attribute that I deeply respected about Dr. Ownby was that she was a mother, not just a mother, but
decided to become pregnant at the age of 42 for the first time. This was met with disagreement from
the other faculty and honestly they discouraged and spoke badly of her. That whole situation was
discouraging because I thought educators would support each other more. She told her clinical group
that for so long she had focused on her own education and striving to obtain her PhD that she let the
dream of having a family fall to the wayside. This was such an open and honest conversation that it
forced me to view her in a more holistic way. She wanted to contribute to the education of students, but
she always wanted to be a mother. Despite, the lack of support she received from other faculty she did
get pregnant and had her perfect baby boy. There is no doubt that Dr. Ownby has gained my respect as
a nursing educator, as well as, a women.