Online Nursing College Professor Interview

Nursing Runs in Her Blood

Sheila Marks, DNS, APRN, BC
Associate Professor of Nursing
South University

Sheila Marks, Associate Professor of Nursing at South University in Savannah, Georgia, became a nurse because she grew up in a medical atmosphere. Her mother was a licensed practical nurse.

Nursing school wasn’t her first choice, but she is happy with her decision and now encourages anyone who is interested in the medical field to consider nursing as an option.

"When I was going to college I worked in a hospital as a ward clerk. When I got out of college with a four-year degree in sociology, there were no jobs. I couldn’t even get a job as a teller in a bank. I decided that I had always been around nursing and applied to the local associate degree program," she said.

After that, there was more to be done. She went on to get a master’s and then a doctorate in nursing.

Benefits of a Nursing Career

Since then, Marks has been teaching nursing students at South University. "There are many reasons why prospective students should consider nursing," she said. "The field offers an active, varied work environment and job security. There is also flexibility – most nurses can either work part time or full time."

Online nursing programs in particular offer many benefits. "You can choose when you want to do your school work," Marks said. "You aren’t locked into a specific day or time, and you don’t have to sit in a classroom."

At South University, nursing students can take all of their classes online. Online nursing courses are complemented by practicums that can be completed at local clinics and hospitals. This allows students to earn Master of Science degrees in Nursing while working full-time.

Online Nursing Courses are Just as Good as Traditional Programs

And, Marks is careful to explain, online nursing programs are not secondary to traditional programs – they are filling a void and offering students wait-listed at traditional schools an alternative. "The prospective students on waiting lists now are not marginal students. They are good students who can’t get into nursing school because there is not enough faculty," she said.

Upon graduating, students have a variety of choices. "Graduates can move into leadership positions if they choose to," she said. And areas such as "acute care, forensic nursing, community health, legal nurse consultant are all choices," she added.

Increasingly, nurses have been able to pursue more entrepreneurial endeavors as well, and become "legal nurse consultants, education specialists and advanced practice nurses."

Qualified Nurses are in Demand

Marks is certain that nurses will always be in demand. The nursing shortage, she said, "is here and is going to be here for a long time, as long as health care facilities are committed to hiring RNs."

And as our population grows older, the demand for nurses will grow stronger. "As our population demographics change, there will be even older adults who need nursing care," Marks said.

Anyone who is interested in science and enjoys working with others should apply to nursing school. "We want the best and the brightest to enter the profession," she said. An aptitude for science is critical. Marks said that the "emphasis on science" is much more now than when she was in nursing school in the 70s.

What are her final words of advice for the would-be nurse? "Do it!" she said enthusiastically. But, she warned, "It is a rigorous scientific field, so take it seriously."

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