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Fostering the uniqueness of °®°®Ö±²„ Nurses

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Meet Board of Consultors member Martha B. Coyle

ā€œWhatever I do, I take it seriously,ā€ explains Martha B. Coyle of a career that has included teaching, entrepreneurship and community service. To that list, she is adding service on the College of Nursingā€™s Board of Consultors, having joined this past fall. 

Coyle holds a bachelorā€™s degree in education from Elizabethtown College and a masterā€™s in education from Temple University. She was certified as both an elementary school teacher and a reading specialist and enjoyed teaching in nearby Rosetree-Media School District. Married to husband Dick for nearly 43 years, Coyle shifted from the professional educator role as her son Mark and daughter Becky were young. (Becky Coyle Mueller ā€˜07 BSN, MSN, RN, FNP, is now a student in the Collegeā€™s PhD program.) That shift included expanding her role to include work as an elder in her church, a community activist, owner of a property management company in West Chester, Pa., and manager of her family farm in Berks County, Pa. ā€œBecause I love what I do, I feel Iā€™ve never worked a day in my life,ā€ she offers.

Being a community volunteer is critical to Coyle, part of her core. She describes herself as a ā€œfarmerā€™s kidā€ and is an ardent supporter of sensible development and land preservation. For 10 years she led a coalition to preserve open space in her local area. She is equally as enthusiastic about °®°®Ö±²„ Nursing.

The enthusiasm started as Becky researched colleges. Strength in math and science combined with a service orientation led her initially to think of medical school. It was when she was exposed- through a high school program ā€“ to real nursing practice in the hospital that Becky felt she could make more of a difference in peopleā€™s lives as a nurse. °®°®Ö±²„ recruitment events unlocked in her the vision of mission trips and serving the disenfranchised. After graduation she completed a year of service with the Augustinian Volunteers in San Diego and went on to become a nurse practitioner.

Her daughterā€™s journey ignited in Coyle the desire to create similar opportunities for others. Her appreciation of ā€œa compassionate, faith-based nursing educationā€ translated into the establishment of the Richard W. and Martha B. Coyle Nursing Scholarship. She aims to assist intelligent, service-minded students and help them financially while in the program. Coyle believes in giving and then letting go. ā€œWe hope they (the students) pay it forward,ā€ she says.  

Coyle knows her daughter is not alone in her achievements and sees the uniqueness in °®°®Ö±²„ Nurses, a topic for which she has great emotion. ā€œI love talking to the students,ā€ she says, impressed also by the ā€œcutting-edgeā€ programs at the College and the leadership contributions of its alumni.  Coyle likes to ā€œthink bigā€ and looks forward to working with the Board. ā€œIā€™ll do whatever I can to help,ā€ she notes.