Faculty Spotlight: RN-to-BSN professor makes online classes come alive

Photo: Lori Theodore (right) accepts a certificate from Seminole State College's Leadership Academy from President Emerita Dr. E. Ann McGee.

“I can remember as a little girl, they bought me a little blue dress with a red cross on it. It had a little cape and a little cap, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” recalled Seminole State College of Florida Nursing Professor Lori Theodore. “And it was just something I knew I always wanted to do. It was just there.”

While she felt the call from a young age, her journey to becoming a nurse was anything but a straight shot. She started college as a theater major before switching to criminal justice and then found herself moving from Indiana to Florida where she worked in the tourism industry for 12 years. After talking herself out of going to nursing school several times, she finally decided she didn’t want to look back and regret never trying to achieve her dream.

Similar to many of her students now, she came later to nursing. She found that she could pull upon her past in theater and tourism as a nurse, utilizing her public speaking skills and her experience connecting with strangers. “Being able to project that air of confidence or happiness or whatever you need to do to make your patient feel safe is something I carried over,” says Theodore. In fact, she says that the intermixing of experience levels in the RN-to-BSN program makes for some of their most interesting discussions, with new graduates, experienced nurses and those who are going into their second or third career all bringing in different perspectives.

The RN-to-BSN program is entirely online to accommodate the busy professionals who are working in the field in tandem with taking classes, which can be extremely difficult. “I like to be present. I think one of the fortes of our program is that we offer a lot of feedback, and we communicate a lot,” says Theodore, who strives to be just as available to her online students as to those she teaches in person. “We try to let them know there is a real person who cares behind the name on the screen.” Her hard work, and that of her colleagues, has paid off as Seminole State’s RN-to-BSN program is now fully accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing.

Theodore also had the honor of being awarded the E. Ann McGee Endowed Chair teaching award for 2020, recognizing her commitment to her students. “Every person who I have taught or am working with now in the RN-to-BSN program, it feels like you are a ripple in the water,” says Theodore. “The impact is just so far reaching of being a teacher.”

Interested in becoming a nurse? Check out our Associate in Science in Nursing. Already an RN and looking to earn your BSN? Learn about our RN-to-BSN program.