Coming full circle

From first-generation college student to doctorally prepared nurse educator

Misty Bauer’s path to becoming a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)-prepared nurse educator was a bumpy but determined one. On Friday, Dec. 13, Bauer will take her final step towards her goal as she walks at the University of Cincinnati (UC) fall graduation, her fifth one since high school.

Raised with her brother by a single mother who didn’t finish high school, Bauer got a taste for nursing while working as a State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA) at a nursing home during her junior year of high school in Pleasant Plain, Ohio.

“Even when a person passes away—which I saw a lot while working in the nursing home—being part of that journey is honorable,” Bauer says. “I felt like I was able to help people in all stages of life not just by caring for them, but by being part of their lives and their family’s lives in some way.”

A few years later, Bauer graduated with a Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) degree, “a quick and accessible next step,” got married and moved to Washington State with her husband, Joe. When he got deployed to Afghanistan, she switched from caring for predominantly underserved, low-income populations at a community health care clinic to caring for active-duty military personnel and their family members at Madigan Army Medical Center.

Bauer at her 2014 Associate Degree in Nursing graduation

Sadly, Joe passed away in combat and Bauer moved back to Ohio. In 2012, she joined Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Home Care Services and, as a recipient of Joe’s GI Bill, returned to school and graduated with an Associate Degree of Nursing (ADN) from UC Blue Ash.

“That was when I decided I wanted to teach. I was impacted by a clinical instructor who loved her job; she was awesome at everything she did,” Bauer says. “She really taught us the caring aspect of nursing and I was so inspired by her. I wanted to help students like she helped us, so I knew I had to go back to school.”

Bauer started the RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) online program at UC College of Nursing right away and got a job on a medical-surgical orthopedic unit at Bon Secours Mercy Health so she could gain acute care experience. At that facility, she went on to become a charge nurse, nurse mentor and preceptor, then a unit educator providing education and simulations to bedside nurses while pursuing her Master of Science in Nursing focused on nursing education.

Bauer and then UC President Santa Ono at her 2016 Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduation

Working her way up the clinical ladder, Bauer's roles included developing and implementing educational sessions for acute care nurses and for the new graduate nurse residency program, as well as simulations and onboarding training to all of Mercy Health’s new registered nurses and patient care assistants in the region. Although working with nurses brought her much fulfillment, Bauer didn't let go of her original goal.

“Even though I was already educating nurses, teaching UC nursing students has been my dream since the ADN program,” Bauer says. “I wanted to contribute back to the college I graduated from and hoped to teach students excellent critical thinking and clinical skills as I instill in them the importance of caring, just as I learned years ago.”

In 2022, an Ohio Board of Nursing grant led by the college’s RN to BSN Program Director Rebecca Lee, PhD, RN, brought Bauer the opportunity to join the college as a Nurse Educator Track Liaison and to start on her final step towards her goal of impacting future nurses—pursuing the terminal practice degree in nursing.

Since last summer, Bauer has taught RN to BSN and traditional BSN students as she worked on finalizing her DNP project titled “Fostering Equity and Representation for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT+) Population in Nursing Curriculum,” chaired by Lee and contributing team member J.A. Carter, PhD, an associate professor of sociology at UC Blue Ash. The project encompasses a learning module on LGBT+ terminology, social determinants of health and health disparities aimed at better preparing nursing students to care for that patient population.

While the road to her final destination has had a few turns, Bauer has always felt growing involves some discomfort.

“I believe the more uncomfortable you are, the more you have an ability to grow. And yes, of course I wanted to quit a hundred times,” she says. “I didn’t quit because I felt I would let Joe down since he had signed his GI Bill over to me; I also want to be a role model to my son by showing him anything is possible, that the road to success isn’t always paved in gold—sometimes it’s full of potholes and detours you must navigate through. That it is okay to pause, but never quit.” she says about CJ, whom she adopted in 2020 and is now five years old.

At graduation, Bauer will be joined by her mom, her son and friends she has made along the way, all eager to celebrate her well-deserved accomplishment.

Join the celebration! Misty will take over the college's Instagram account as she prepares for graduation on Friday, Dec. 13.

Coming full circle

From first-generation college student to doctorally prepared nurse educator

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