Excellence with heart: Celebrating 75 years of nursing

This feature story originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2025 issue of The Bulletin.

By Angela Sienko, director of communications and marketing, and Daniel James ’24, news and media manager

When three Goshen College Nursing Department chairs sit down together to talk about the school’s nursing program, you hear one story in three distinct voices. Vicky Kirkton ’73 served as chair from 1998-2011. She went on to guide the department through enrollment swings and new competition while helping to lay the groundwork for graduate study. Brenda Srof ’82, an alumna who chaired from 2012 to 2020, balanced growth and rigor during years of national nursing shortages. Today’s chair, Jewel Yoder ’99, ’20 (DNP), stepped in during 2021 and now steers the program through a new era of competency-based learning, advanced simulation, a new facility and an ever more diverse student body.

While each has led through changing times, the program’s foundation never wavered — it’s always been about whole-person education grounded in compassion, community and courageous innovation.

Excellence with heart

From its beginning in 1949 as Indiana’s first Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, GC Nursing has blended rigorous academics with a caring ethos rooted in Anabaptist values. “There’s a subtle foundation in the understanding of what it means to live a life of stewardship and peace,” Srof says. “It’s hard to define, but it’s there.”

That foundation shapes how students learn to see and serve the whole person. Faculty mentor closely, meeting one-on-one with students and guiding them through both clinical skills and emotional resilience. “We constantly hear just how different our graduates are,” Kirkton says. “They’re prepared to look beyond the diagnosis and care for the person.”

Yoder continues that legacy today with attention to her students’ mental health and balance.

“Nursing students today face immense pressures, from the demands of a rigorous program to family expectations, athletics or mental health challenges,” she says. “At Goshen College, we strive to support them with counseling, resources and a community that helps them manage stress while learning how to care for others.”

Leadership and legacy through innovation

The story of GC Nursing is one of thoughtful risk-taking. When national shortages and regional competition grew in the 1980s and ’90s, the department responded creatively, launching an RN-to-BSN program that made higher education accessible for working nurses. “We saw a need and built something that worked,” Kirkton says.

Innovation continued under Srof’s leadership when the college added a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) in 2007 and, later, a collaborative Doctor of Nursing Practice with Eastern Mennonite University. “Starting graduate programs as a small college was gutsy and transformative for primary care in this region,” Srof says.

Technology has advanced dramatically, from self-paced “learning labs” in the 1970s to today’s high-fidelity simulation suites in the new state-of-the-art Center for Nursing and Public Health in Westlawn. Yoder is excited to lead the next phase: simulation accreditation and competency-based learning that prepares nurses to step confidently into clinical roles. “We have five different manikins that add a wow factor,” Yoder says, “but never at the expense of human-focused care.”

For each chair, innovation has meant more than adopting new tools. It’s about adapting while staying true to GC’s mission. “Our [small] size makes us nimble,” Yoder says. “We can dream big and still keep students at the center.”

Community impact and connection

For 75 years, GC nurses have strengthened both local healthcare and global well-being. Nearly half of Goshen College nursing graduates stay in Elkhart County — staffing Beacon and Goshen Health, caring for residents at Greencroft and leading teams at Maple City Health Care Center, for example.

“What’s good for nursing is good for the college and the community,” Yoder says. “Our partnerships keep classrooms connected to real needs.”

Those connections extend worldwide. Nursing alumni serve in public health, nurse education, midwifery, global health NGOs and humanitarian missions — often inspired by GC’s Study-Service Term. “That cross-cultural piece has always set our graduates apart,” Kirkton says. “They’re comfortable with differences. They lead with empathy.”

The next generation

As GC educates the next generation of nurses, Srof sees the program continuing to model active, competency-based education that prioritizes what students can do, not just what they know. And Kirkton believes the same trust and collaboration that built past programs will carry the college forward.

Yoder envisions GC as a regional hub for healthcare learning, serving students, clinicians and community partners alike. “We want our simulation center to train not just GC nurses but EMTs, CNAs and others in the area,” she says.

The next 5-10 (and 25) years

Predicting 25 years ahead is tricky in a world where even the tools of charting and diagnostics are changing fast. Yoder’s nearer-term horizon is clear: lean into competency-based education so practice partners receive nurses who are ready on day one; earn simulation accreditation; and grow the program’s role as a regional training hub — all while holding fast to the human touch.

Srof sees broader shifts in pedagogy across higher education, like more active learning, clearer outcomes and assessment that focuses on what students can do. Kirkton points to the practical realities that will shape the future, such as demographic shifts and funding in health care and education, and the need for leaders who can read the moment and respond with integrity.

Underneath it all is formation for leadership. Yoder recalls a former dean telling her, “Well, you’re a GC nurse.” The point was not pride; it was expectation. GC educates nurses who step up — who become charge nurses sooner than they expect, who communicate across cultures, who keep patients at the center even as technology accelerates around them.

Asked for words of advice to new nursing graduates, each chair offered this:

Vicky Kirkton: “Be patient with yourself; the transition to practice takes time. Find allies who will cheer you on. Keep going.”

Brenda Srof: “Work hard. Dream. Write down your core values and return to them. Let those guide you through tough days and big decisions.”

Jewel Yoder: “Practice self-care. Set up your 401(k). Bottle up your compassion so you have some left for yourself. If your compassion begins to fade, stay in nursing, but pivot to a role where you can flourish again.”