The Morningside College Nylen School of Nursing and the Morningside Student Nurses’ Association have named Vicki Schug of Bloomington, Minn., as the 2015 nursing alumna of the year.

The Morningside College Nylen School of Nursing and the Morningside Student Nurses’ Association have named Vicki Schug of Bloomington, Minn., as the 2015 nursing alumna of the year.

Schug graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a minor in psychology from Morningside in 1978. She received her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota. Schug has been a faculty member at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn., since 1991 and currently holds the rank of professor.

Schug will deliver the keynote speech for the opening of the 33rd annual Maud Adams Nursing Research Day on Wednesday, April 15, at 8 a.m. in the Weikert Auditorium of Buhler Rohlfs Hall, 1701 Morningside Ave., on the Morningside campus.

During the opening remarks, the Nursing Alumni Scholarship will be presented in Schug’s honor to Megan Kroese of Sanborn, Iowa, a senior who will graduate this spring from Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn High School.  Kroese plans to attend Morningside College in the fall. The scholarship is presented each year to a student who shows potential for outstanding professionalism in nursing.

Morningside senior nursing students will present their research projects from 2-3 p.m. in various locations on campus as part of Morningside’s Palmer Student Research Symposium.

Schug has served as the baccalaureate nursing program director at St. Catherine University for 17 years.  She currently holds a full-time faculty position in the prelicensure baccalaureate program.  She has a strong interest in curriculum design as well as program assessment and evaluation.  Her current research focus has been in the areas of simulation in nursing education and enhancing critical thinking of nursing students through active learning and critical conversations.

The nursing research day started in 1983 as a tribute to the late Maud Adams, a former chair of the Morningside nursing department. Before she came to Morningside, Adams served as a staff nurse, instructor, and administrator in various public health agencies and nursing programs.