HOMETOWN: Brighton, Illinois
GRADUATE PROGRAM: Doctor of Nursing Practice

“Being a nursing educator, I get to use both of my professional accomplishments—nursing and academia,” says Tracy Colburn, a 2020 graduate of Northern Kentucky University's Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program.

Colburn, who has worked as a professor for Lewis and Clark Community College since 2007, is a labor and delivery staff nurse at Alton Memorial Hospital in Alton, Illinois. Colburn chose to pursue her DNP because it was a personal goal she set 30 years earlier. And because she already worked in academia, a degree could help further her career and possibly give her a new title. 

When Colburn decided to continue her education after obtaining a BSN and MSN, she found NKU.

“I researched universities looking for an online education that was accredited and had a great reputation for my DNP,” Colburn says. “NKU showed up more than once in my searches and when I inquired, the responses from your academic advisors sold me on the DNP program and NKU.”

For her DNP project, Colburn conducted research and presented her findings as a quality-improvement initiative. She specifically assessed a lack of consistency when performing a screening of newborns for Critical Congenital Heart Defects (CCHD). This discrepancy sparked her inquiries and was the driving force behind her project.

“A literature review informed me that the discrepancy was not just at the facility where I was working but a global event as well,” she says. “My project focused on re-educating nursing staff on an essential screening procedure with hopes that the evidence collected may help lead to a universal protocol for CCHD screening.”

Her greatest passion will always be her family, but it is closely followed by education. Colburn’s father always stressed the importance of education and always said that people, “may be able to take away all of your possessions, but they can never take away your education.”

Colburn recommends that students who are interested in getting their DNP or pursuing a graduate degree should take the leap.

“I put off going back to college twice in my life—once for my master's then again for my doctorate,” she says. “Once you finally take the first step, you will not regret it. It is so rewarding, and online education is not as scary as it seems. I really enjoyed going to school online. It requires a degree of self-discipline, but once you get the hang of it, it flies by and you will have a new degree with all the opportunities associated with it.”