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Nursing Program | LVN to RN Certificate
Our faculty are experts in their fields and dedicated to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to share the Gospel and care for all of God’s people.
Main Nursing department number: (949) 214-3280
Critical care RN 1992-present, CCRN certified 2011 to present, former MET (medical emergency team) member St Joseph Hospital Orange, California
AACN/GLBOC member, ACNL member, and ANA member
AFSA and ACE (Academic Curriculum) committee member.
Recently performed outcomes for spring and summer 2019 for ACE committee while member on sabbatical.
Sigma Theta Tau chapter board member from 2017 to 2023. Currently, helping to oversee by-laws.
Bethany Church Greeter (Long Beach) for hospitality committee 2014 to 2022.
Women’s ministry Bethany Church table leader 2022-2023.
Former MOMS (making our mothering significant) 2008-2015 with prior core leadership which helped to train new table leaders to invest in being new mothers and helping guide families to reach our communities in Long Beach.
Part of faculty who participate in information sessions and interviewing new staff
Have taught all levels of ABSN from 2016 to current. Pharm Theory Instructor 2017 to 2019. Some clinical to date include preceptorship for seniors with seminar. Juniors for advanced med-surgical and mental health. Also, have taught in the pharm lab and skills lab. Have a passion to remind students about resilience and how to focus on self-care. I teach mental health theory from 2020 to 2023 and have been the mental health clinical course coordinator 2020 to 2023.
Have been involved with clinical narratives that was published for St. Joseph hospital as part of the clinical ladder.
Heather Chatwin graduated from Concordia University’s ABSN program cohort 9, in 2013. She began her nursing career on an orthopedic, spine, joint, and bariatric unit. She spent some time working as a float pool nurse, home health nurse and alongside adults with disabilities. She began teaching at Concordia in 2018 as a Mental Health and Medical Surgical clinical instructor. In 2022, she transitioned to a full-time faculty member.
Tom Cottrell has been a pediatric nurse since 2009. He began teaching for Concordia University as a clinical instructor in 2014. He became a member of the nursing faculty at Concordia University in 2020. Tom has spent much of his nursing career educating students, nurses, and medical staff on pediatric vascular access and methods of limiting harm and pain associated with vascular access devices. When not teaching or at the hospital, Tom enjoys traveling with his wife, Rainnie.
Jennifer Dahl began teaching at Concordia University Irvine in 2014 and currently serves as the Assistant Director of Nursing. She began her nursing career an oncology nurse until she transitioned to the maternal-newborn population where she spent over 20 years as a labor and delivery nurse. Jennifer has a love of the nursing profession and strives to educate students to be compassionate and holistic nurses who serve the population.
Chelsea started teaching at Concordia as an Adjunct Faculty in 2020 and currently serves as the Assistant Director of Nursing Programs. She began her nursing career as a Critical Care nurse and works in a mixed CCU setting and Rapid Response Role. Chelsea enjoyed serving on Hospital committees and furthering nursing education through involvement in hospital committees. Chelsea was also the lead author for the AACN Beacon Award for her CCU Unit where they placed Silver.
Carol's RN experience includes critical care nursing for adult neurosurgical, trauma, open heart, transplant and general critical care patients; as an advanced practicing nurse experience as a Heart Transplant Coordinator and as a Pediatric Cardiovascular Clinical Nurse Specialist.
Program development, administration and instructor at Concordia University.China Mission Trip 2014American Heart Association MembershipAmerican Holistic Nursing Association MembershipActive volunteer at St. Juliana Church in Fullerton
Lynda King began her career in the Northwest as an acute post-surgical nurse, then transitioned to an operating room nurse. In 2015, Lynda and her husband moved back to Southern California. While working as the Clinical Coordinator for Robotics, Lynda discovered her passion for teaching. She returned to school obtaining her Master of Science in Nursing with an emphasis in education. Lynda began teaching at Concordia University as an adjunct instructor for clinical and pharmacotherapeutics and joined the nursing department as a full-time faculty member in October of 2020. Aside from teaching, Lynda also enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband, children, and Boston Terrier Rosie.
Prof. Mationg has been a practicing operating room nurse since 2001. She has been teaching in nursing education since 2007 and specifically for Concordia University’s ABSN program since 2009. Prof. Mationg has been a part of multiple mission trips during her time at Concordia University Irvine including trips to China, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Belize. She has been practicing as an RN First Assist (RNFA) since 2017 and actively works in this field while concurrently teaching in the ABSN program. She is an active volunteer at her local church along with her husband and two sons.
Dr. Tiffani Natalini-Whitmore joined the faculty of the nursing department as a full time faculty member in July 2018 after teaching in an adjunct capacity at Concordia University Irvine for the previous 5 semesters. Tiffani has a B.S. in movement science from The University of Michigan, an M.S. in ergonomics also from The University of Michigan, an A.D.N. from College of the Desert, an M.S. in nursing from The University of Phoenix, and an EdD in nursing education from Southern Connecticut State University. Dr. Natalini is interested in developing faculty and her dissertation was entitled The Effect of Mentorship on Structural Empowerment for Novice Clinical Adjunct Nursing Faculty. Dr. Natalini is named on a federal patent for 4-point seatbelt design. The work she did while working in the research lab for Ford Motor Company helped lead to this patent. Dr. Natalini is originally from Michigan but has lived in Southern California since 2001. Aside from teaching, she also enjoys spending time with her husband, traveling the world, and learning about different cultures and people.
Dr. Natalini teaches in the ABSN program focusing mainly on medical-surgical nursing theory, pharmacology lab, and clinical instruction. Dr. Natalini also serves on the Assessment, Curriculum, and Evaluation Committee as well as serving as a faculty advisor for Concordia Nursing Student Association, the student-led nursing organization for the ABSN program at the Spectrum Campus.
Dr. Caroline Rae began her career in adult medical/surgical nursing and spent several years as a critical care nurse before transitioning into academia. She began her teaching career as an adjunct clinical instructor at Golden West College and joined Concordia University full time in 2014. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Nursing. Dr. Rae has completed the Watson Caring Science Institute’s Caritas Coach Education Program ®. She serves on the Academic Student & Faculty Affairs Committee and is Faculty Advisor for Concordia University’s Nursing Student Association.
Dr. Rae is also an active community volunteer with extensive experience in disaster preparedness. She has served as the Chairperson of the Advisory Board for the Orange County Medical Reserve Corps and as a Captain with Anaheim’s Community Emergency Response Team and is a Red Cross volunteer. Dr. Rae is also a certified Stop the Bleed and CPR/BLS instructor.
She was a founding member of Psi Theta-at-Large (Concordia University Irvine's chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society) where she currently serves as Vice-President. Previously, she served 2 terms as the Chairperson for the Orange County/Long Beach Consortium for Nursing.
Coordinator: Nursing Skills Lab, Open Lab, & Adult Medical/Surgical Clinical
Dr. Smythe-Padgham joined Concordia University Irvine in 2017 and serves as the Assistant Dean and Director of Nursing. She began her career as a labor and delivery nurse over 25 years ago. She went on to attain her Masters of Science in Nursing and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner license in 1992 and worked in both private and community care settings in Orange and Los Angeles counties practicing primarily in underserved communities in order to serve the needs of women, mothers and babies. In 2009, she began her career in academia as a nursing faculty member. During her tenure, she served as an Assistant Dean and Interim Dean. She now proudly serves as the Assistant Dean/Director of Nursing in the Concordia Department of Nursing.
DNP project: Nurse Practitioner’s knowledge and use of the internet for adolescent health information
Nursing has been a dream and calling for me since I was four years old. While serving in the military as a computer technician, I studied nights and weekends to meet the prerequisites to get accepted into nursing school. Upon graduation from a traditional BSN nursing program with a minor in Nutrition, I was deployed to an overseas naval hospital in the Mediterranean area where I served for a term.
Labor & delivery was the bedside specialty area of my choice for twelve dynamic years. Academics recruited me with a post card asking “Could you see yourself as a Nursing Educator?” So I went back to school for a Masters with a specialty in Nursing Education. I entered the classroom as a lecturer in an Associate’s Degree program back east with additional areas of responsibility as the skills & sim lab coordinator. Certification as a Nurse Educator and in Healthcare Simulation Education followed.
Externally, I serve as a current member of the National League for Nursing, the Society for Simulation Health, the International Nursing Association Simulation Clinical Learning and Sim GHOSTs. I am a reviewer for the Journal of Christian Nursing. Internally, I serve on the Institutional Review Board and the Academic Faculty and Student Affairs committee, where I champion teamwork & collaboration.
I promote the military for the wealth of cultural diversity, educational opportunities, and the lifelong comradery of the uniformed services. Volunteering for Concordia Serves and Angel Tree with Mission Hills Church is my kiddo therapy and service to the Orange County, California community at large. Ministry service to the worship team at Mission Hills Church is ongoing and a creative outlet.
Shannon is the Operations Administrative Coordinator for Concordia University Irvine's Department of Nursing. In her role, she provides administrative support in the day to day operations of the Department of Nursing including but not limited to creation and maintenance of nursing courses, schedules, calendars, and student registration and matriculation. Additionally, she collaborates with Human Resources on the interviewing, hiring and onboarding of Nursing Department candidates.
Maria-Jean, “MJ”, is the Assistant Director of Academic Clinical Partnerships for Concordia University Irvine. In her role, Ms. Caterinicchio provides leadership in implementing and managing relationships with both current and future clinical partners. She is responsible for building clinical partnerships, identifying and generating new clinical agency opportunities and managing the clinical partnerships to ensure that student learning and course objectives are being met.
Maria-Jean has extensive leadership experience in healthcare, working for nonprofit, community and university teaching hospitals as well as within a national professional nursing organization, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. Maria-Jean has significant experience in designing, implementing and evaluating systems to support strategic and organizational initiatives, leading project teams and facilitating organizational change.
Jennifer (Jen) is the Clinical Placement Coordinator for Concordia University Irvine's Department of Nursing. In her role, she provides support to the students and faculty of the Department of Nursing including clinical placement assignment to meet the affiliation requirements. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and Graphic Design from Grand Canyon University.
Henny Halim joined Concordia University Irvine in 2008 as a student in the MBA graduate department. Her unique ability to speak six languages (Bahasa Indonesia, English, Chinese-Mandarin, Chinese-Taiwanese, Indonesian-Javanese, and Cantonese) was a valuable asset when she decided to return and start her career with the Graduate Admissions team as the sole admission counselor for Nursing. Over the years, she rose to the position of Associate Director of Graduate Admissions for Nursing and Healthcare programs in 2021. In this role, Henny played a significant part in expanding admissions cohorts and developing a secondary site for nursing admissions.
In 2024, Henny transitioned from her role in Graduate Admissions to accept the position of CalOptima Grant Project Director for Nursing, where she now oversees scholarships and initiatives that benefit health professionals serving in Orange County. She is currently pursuing an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership, with an expected graduation in 2026.
Henny served on the Concordia Staff Council from 2021 to 2023 and held the position of Vice Chair in 2023.
Alicia came to Concordia University Irvine in the Summer of 2022 as a counselor for the Graduate Admissions team for the School of Health and Human Sciences. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Azusa Pacific University in 2015 while competing on the volleyball team and earned her Master of Arts from CSU Long Beach in 2018. In her spare time, Alicia enjoys warm summer days at the beach and spending time with her family and friends.
Born and raised in Southern California, Brian is a local of the Orange County landscape. He came to Concordia University Irvine with a strong background in higher education and serves as an Admissions Counselor for the School of Health and Human Sciences. He received his BA and MBA from Hope International University, and also competed in Cross County/Track while earning is degrees. One of his favorite things about serving in higher education is navigating potential applicant’s through the admissions process as they aim to reach their goals. Outside of the office, he enjoys photography, music, movies, and spending quality time with the people close to him.