Denver College of Nursing Presents Diversity in Action Award to Wallenberg

Denver College of Nursing (DCN) has recognized Kelly Wallenberg, assistant director of admissions, with the nursing college’s Diversity in Action Award, designed to reward a faculty or staff member for their new ways of including and addressing diversity in the curricula or on campus, said Dr. Marcia Bankirer, president of DCN (www.denvercollegeofnursing.edu).

With the Denver College of Nursing since 2005, Wallenberg interacts with students on a daily basis. “Her job entails helping prospective students through the admission process to interviewing students and guiding them from their initial interview to their first day of nursing school,” Bankirer explained.

In her position, Wallenberg is responsible for systematically and ethically advising students regarding enrollment, working within the highly regulated guidelines established by DCN and the field of nursing and working with the admissions team to assure that each applicant gets the best in service.

“In all the time that she has served DCN in admissions, Kelly has epitomized DCN’s mission, vision and purpose, that of a nursing college dedicated to providing the best nursing education in the most caring and effective way for students of all backgrounds. Students interact with her from the beginning of the admissions process through graduation and respect and admire her,” noted Jeff Johnson, DCN director of admissions.

Wallenberg holds her Master of Arts degree in student affairs in higher education from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and her Bachelor of Arts in communications from the University of South Dakota.

DCN’s student population represents a variety of racial backgrounds, including a male enrollment of 15 percent.
Bankirer said DCN created the Diversity in Action Award in honor of the first black woman to complete nurse’s training in 1879 in the U.S. Mary Mahoney, a nurse, and a women’s rights and civil rights activist, was inducted into the Nursing Hall of Fame in 1976 and the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993.