Heidi Mennenga, from left, Christina Plemmons, and Sarah Mollman, all nursing professors at South Dakota State University, rose in academia through UNLV's doctoral program. | UNLV news release
Heidi Mennenga, from left, Christina Plemmons, and Sarah Mollman, all nursing professors at South Dakota State University, rose in academia through UNLV's doctoral program. | UNLV news release
Three former University of Nevada, Las Vegas, nursing students are heading South Dakota State University’s College of Nursing program.
Christina Plemmons, Heidi Mennenga and Sarah Mollman parlayed their UNLV nursing doctorates into heading SDSU’s nursing program where they will lead research programs and the academic curriculum, according to a university news release.
“I was just very straightforward with people that I wanted my degrees from different institutions,” Mennenga said in the release. “We encourage faculty to strive for that variety in their education. Of course, we want people to be part of our Ph.D. program, but we also encourage faculty to choose what is best for their personal and professional goals.”
The fact that all three received their Ph.D. in Nursing from UNLV’s School of Nursing and now lead SDSU is just happenstance.
“It's always nice to go out and see how things are done elsewhere and expand those professional boundaries," Mennenga said. "If you stay within your own silo, you only know what and who you know, whereas by going to an external university, just networking alone is huge.”
Mennenga partners with Plemmons and Mollman on a variety of research topics and was instrumental in securing a $2.7 million HRSA grant to educate more primary care nurses.
“I oversee the Ph.D. program because it's an academic program, but Sarah certainly has a lot of input into research that's going on within the college of nursing, in her role as the ADR. Our entire leadership team works collaboratively,” Mennenga said.
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