Sandra Cooper honored by Iowa Community College Trustees group as top administrator of 2010
A Kirkwood Community College dean received singular recognition from the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees. At their annual meeting in Marshalltown on July 29, the IACCT board named Nursing Dean Sandra Cooper as the organization’s 2010 Iowa Outstanding Administrator/Manager. They recognized Cooper’s efforts to build Kirkwood’s Nursing program into one of the largest and most successful in the state.
Commenting on the honor, Cooper focused on larger, shared college goals.
“I am humbled and truly honored to receive this award and would like to express my gratitude to the Board of Trustees for the nomination. To me, the award represents a goal each of us in the college strive to accomplish–student success. The nursing program has taken on several initiatives to improve student outcomes. These have been accomplished by the efforts of a remarkable team of nursing faculty and staff who are very dedicated and committed to the students we serve,” she said.
Sandra Cooper joined Kirkwood Community College in 2007 as Director of Nursing and is beginning her 16th year in nursing education. While at Kirkwood, she has led program initiatives to improve student outcomes in one of the largest nursing programs in Iowa.
Cooper is involved in nursing leadership and coordinating council committees with our regional partners. She currently serves on an ethics committee of a local hospital. She has been a nursing faculty member at Northeast Iowa Community College, Iowa Western Community College and University of Iowa College of Nursing. Cooper earned a MSN degree from the University of Iowa, BSN degree from the University of Dubuque, and an Associate Degree in Nursing from Iowa Central Community College.
Throughout her teaching career, Cooper has maintained clinical nursing practice and has 26 years experience in direct patient care. She has published several nursing faculty resources and co-authored a Pharmacology textbook for nursing education, published in October 2009.
In recent years, Kirkwood Nursing students have consistently performed above national examination standards, with several student groups completing the LPN licensure exam at 100 percent pass rates. In the 2009-10 academic year Kirkwood students earned 173 Registered Nurse and 169 Licensed Practical Nurse certifications.