14 Northwestern DNP Students Complete 2025 Summer Residency Training in Alva
August 7, 2025
Students, faculty and benefactors of the Wisdom Family Foundation Doctoral Program for Rural Nursing Practice met at the President’s House on the Northwestern-Alva campus during the 2025 summer residency week. Those who attended are (front row, left to right) Jordan Bourland; Sarah Maldonado; Mollie Hughes; Dipal Bhakta; Caitlin Nagel (second row, left to right) Paul Mungiria; Shirley Font; Cassandra Denoya; Sydney Hamill; Caley Sharp (third row, left to right) Dr. Peggy Wisdom; Payton Bills; Ifeoma Uduezue; Heather Patton; Teresa Austin (fourth row, left to right) Dr. Hannah Hoppes, assistant professor of nursing; Elizabeth Wright; Dr. Angela Skousen, assistant professor of nursing; Dr. Gwyneth Holderby, DNP program director (back row, left to right) Dr. Leslie Collins, Charles Morton Share Trust Division of Nursing chair; Todd Holder; Dr. Bo Hannaford, Northwestern President.
Alva, Okla. — Fourteen students in the Wisdom Family Foundation Doctoral Program for Rural Nursing Practice at Northwestern Oklahoma State University spent five days on the Alva campus for residency week in July.
The students are involved in a hybrid program meaning that much of their education is completed online. The students can complete clinical work in their hometowns while Northwestern faculty members supervise remotely. For residency week, the students come to the Alva campus for a week of hands-on training and to show that they are competent in physically assessing patients.
Students who attended this year’s week-long residency program included Teresa Austin of Mooreland, Dipal Bhakta of Tulsa, Payton Bills of Yukon, Jordan Bourland of Colgate, Cassandra Denoya of Ponca City, Shirley Font of Yukon, Sydney Hamill of Anthony (Kansas), Sarah Maldonado of Monkey Island, Caitlin Nagel of Garber, Heather Patton of Stigler, Mollie Hughes of Tulsa, Caley Sharp of Ponca City, Ifeoma Uduezue of Edmond and Elizabeth Wright of Durant.
During residency week, students are able to check off their physical assessment skills to prepare for a clinical setting. They receive an introductory experience to common procedures they will encounter in primary care such as suturing, eye injuries and biopsies. Kiowa Meat Locker donated pig feet to practice suturing and cattle eyeballs for assessing eye injuries, and Moore’s Venture Foods in Alva donated overripe produce for biopsy simulation.
Dr. Gwyneth Holderby, assistant professor of nursing and Wisdom Family Foundation Doctoral Program for Rural Nursing Practice program director, was joined by assistant professors of nursing Dr. Angela Skousen, Dr. Hannah Hoppes, Dr. Krystal Elliot and Dr. Sierra Elsey to provide instruction to the group during the week. Together they supervised physical exams that were completed on community volunteers and taught the students procedures like joint injections, repairing lacerations with sutures, and other procedures commonly performed in primary care.
Holderby also met with students to discuss their DNP projects and clinical placement.
“It was a great week,” Holderby said. “The faculty and students really got to bond with each other and grow their relationships. The students checked off on head to toe exams so they are ready to start clinicals in the spring and learned many skills they will need for practice. We had so many amazing volunteers from the community as well.”
The BSN-to-DNP program enrolled its first class in August 2017. The sixth class to have graduated did so this year in May. Members of the graduating class of 2025 presented their respective projects in the J.W. Martin Library on July 17 in an event open to the public.
2025 Northwestern DNP graduate Thuy Van gives a presentation in J.W. Martin library during the 2025 DNP residency week.
Northwestern is one of five public universities in Oklahoma to offer a Family Nurse Practitioner program, was the first public university with a BSN-to-DNP offering, and is the only program in the state with an emphasis on nursing in rural communities. So far, the program boasts a 95 percent or better certification pass rate and a 100 percent employment rate.
Students may enroll full-time for the three-year program or part-time for the four-year program. Instruction within this program helps to prepare students to become certified Family Nurse Practitioners in their home communities and surrounding areas without first earning a master’s degree; however, there is an advanced placement option for students who have already completed a master’s degree in nursing.
A virtual tour of the Charles Morton Share Trust Division of Nursing is available on the university YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@nwokst or the program webpage www.nwosu.edu/school-of-professional-studies/nursing. For more information, call (580) 327-8493.
Additional information about the Wisdom Family Foundation Doctoral Program for Rural Nursing Practice program may be found online at www.nwosu.edu/graduate-studies/bsn-to-dnp or by calling (580) 327-8442.
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Media Contact:
Sean J. Doherty, University Relations Specialist
Email: sjdoherty@nwosu.edu
Phone: (580) 327-8480