{"id":196145,"date":"2024-10-15T11:45:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T17:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/?p=196145"},"modified":"2025-08-04T09:12:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T15:12:31","slug":"caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2024\/10\/15\/caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"Still caring for students: Professor emeritus sets up scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like many nurses and educators before her, School of Nursing professor emeritus Nancy Otterness saw a need among students and decided to do something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before retiring, Otterness taught in the School of Nursing for 27 years. She is no stranger to the financial burden of higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft wp-image-196149 size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2024\/10\/Nancy-submission.jpg\" alt=\"Nancy Otterness stands in the school's hallway and smiles.\" class=\"wp-image-196149\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nancy Otterness, School of Nursing Professor Emeritus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI taught senior level classes, and I knew there were students that it was questionable whether they would be even able to finish their nursing education if they didn&#8217;t get financial help,\u201d she said. \u201cThey were taking out loans, they were working, but it was still a struggle for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Otterness did not sit idly by: she has been making donations to Boise State scholarships since 1983. And she isn\u2019t alone. \u201cThere are a lot of faculty who do give money toward scholarships,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt takes a village to get the students through; I was just one in the wheel,\u201d Otterness said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt couldn&#8217;t just be one faculty; it takes all of us to work with students, finding their needs and encouraging them and building on their strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Nancy Otterness<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After retiring, she increased her donations as she was able. Otterness knows every penny given was worth it, from the \u201cfriendly faces\u201d of former students she recognizes in local hospitals to the Christmas cards they send to thank her for helping them during the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2023, Otterness decided to give back even more. She established the Nancy H. Otterness Nursing Scholarship scholarship to help more Boise State undergraduate students begin their nursing careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf students can complete their baccalaureate nursing degree then they&#8217;re going to most likely work in our community, and we need nurses,\u201d she said. \u201cNurses do make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Otterness encourages others to consider supporting students if for no other reason than making wise tax decisions She encourages peers who have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/retirement-plans\/plan-participant-employee\/retirement-topics-required-minimum-distributions-rmds\">required minimum distributions<\/a> from their retirement accounts to reduce their tax burden by giving that money to scholarships or charities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of people are quite surprised at that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Otterness has been giving to Boise State for 36 consecutive years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a class=\"c-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/give.boisestate.edu\/campaign_search?page=1&amp;search=nursing\">Join Nancy today and support nursing students<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-get-to-know-nancy\">Get to know Nancy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nancy Otterness grew up in Chicago and participated in a career day during her junior year of high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou could pick a couple of careers that you were interested in and then you spent a day shadowing a person in that field,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I don&#8217;t know why I picked nursing, but I did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Otterness spent the day following a nurse at the University of Chicago Hospital. \u201cI was so impressed with her, she was very much an educator of her patients and taught them what they could do to help manage their care,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That evening she told her parents: \u201cI think I&#8217;ll be a nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Otterness went on to earn her Bachelor of Science degree with a major in nursing from South Dakota State University. After graduation and starting a family, she worked part-time in a variety of nursing roles, such as employee health and minor first aid for a Chicago-based company, substituting for a school nurse, and a camp nurse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft wp-image-196148\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"664\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2024\/10\/Nancys-Party-034_sq664.jpg\" alt=\"Nancy Otterness smiles with a friend at her retirement party.\" class=\"wp-image-196148\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nancy Otterness (right) celebrating her retirement from the School of Nursing after 27 years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After moving her family to Boise, Nancy began teaching in the nursing program at Boise State. She went on to receive her master\u2019s degree from Idaho State University and work part-time at Saint Alphonsus Hospital, first on the medical floor and then in-home health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During her final years teaching at Boise State, Otterness taught community health nursing. While it\u2019s not a flashy specialty, she loved seeing students realize how beneficial community education is for preventing and controlling illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many nursing students she encountered during the class declared they would work in the emergency room or intensive care unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThen they would finish it and say &#8216;You know, a lot of the things we saw in the emergency room could have been prevented if the people knew what to do and how to take care of themselves,\u2019\u201d Otterness recalls with a chuckle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat in and of itself was rewarding. Some [students] still wanted to work in the emergency room and intensive care and I said &#8216;Good! Because if I get sick, I want you there and I want you loving your job!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like many nurses and educators before her, School of Nursing professor emeritus Nancy Otterness saw&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3526,"featured_media":196149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[391,361],"tags":[4108,4057,4106],"class_list":["post-196145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-son-bachelor","category-son","tag-donors","tag-nursing-faculty","tag-scholarships"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Still caring for students: Professor emeritus sets up scholarship - School of Nursing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"School of Nursing professor emeritus Nancy Otterness saw a need among students and decided to do something about it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2024\/10\/15\/caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Still caring for students: Professor emeritus sets up scholarship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like many nurses and educators before her, School of Nursing professor emeritus Nancy Otterness saw a need among students and decided to do something\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2024\/10\/15\/caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"School of Nursing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BoiseStateSON\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-15T17:45:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-04T15:12:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2024\/10\/Nancy-submission.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katherine Denagy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BoiseStateNurse\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BoiseStateNurse\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katherine Denagy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2024\/10\/15\/caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2024\/10\/15\/caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katherine Denagy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/#\/schema\/person\/0ff5e5de1dadcc984dc81b9a0f9e5162\"},\"headline\":\"Still caring for students: Professor emeritus sets up scholarship\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-15T17:45:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-04T15:12:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2024\/10\/15\/caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship\/\"},\"wordCount\":738,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2024\/10\/15\/caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2024\/10\/Nancy-submission.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Donors\",\"nursing faculty\",\"scholarships\"],\"articleSection\":[\"B.S. in Nursing\",\"SON\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2024\/10\/15\/caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/nursing\/2024\/10\/15\/caring-for-students-professor-emeritus-sets-up-nursing-scholarship\/\",\"name\":\"Still caring for students: Professor emeritus sets up scholarship - 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