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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
Mary Bowman has been a nurse for over 30 years. During that time, she has been blessed to work in a variety of nursing positions. She worked in a physician office for both primary and obstetrical/gynecological care. In acute care, she worked in labor and delivery, postpartum, high-risk antepartum and cared for the newborn. She worked in a leadership role as a nurse manager for sixteen years for Women’s and Children’s Services in a hospital setting. She developed a service line called “Transitions for Women” caring for the inpatient and outpatient breastfeeding mothers, and created an oncology boutique for cancer patients. Mary has developed curriculum and taught a variety of classes to physicians, nurses, new graduates, and patients for over 30 years. She is an AWHONN Intermediate Fetal Monitor Instructor and presented a poster presentation on fetal kick counting.
She received her Bachelors of Science in Healthcare Management at Chapman College in 2006 and completed her MSN in Nursing Education at Walden University in 2013. Mary joined Concordia University Irvine as a full-time faculty in May, 2014.
She teaches leadership theory and maternal/infant health preceptorship and seminar for the ABSN program. Additionally, she has taught leadership theory for the MSN and RN to BSN programs. Aside from teaching, Mary enjoys traveling and making memories with her family.
I am an Adult-Geriatric Primary Care nurse practitioner with specialty certification in hospice and palliative care. Other nursing experiences include critical care, medical-surgical oncology, and employee health. I enjoy volunteering in the community, healthcare-related or otherwise. I have led healthcare mission trips with Concordia nursing students to Mexico and Guatemala.
In progress:Cultural competency in hospice care: An effect of online cultural diversity training in hospice interdisciplinary team as measured by the cultural competence assessment survey
Critical care RN 1992-present, CCRN certified 2011 to present, former MET (medical emergency team) member St Joseph hospital, AACN/GLBOC member, ACNL member, ANA member. AFSA and ACE committee member. Have been performing outcomes for spring and summer 2019 for ACE committee while member on sabbatical.
Bethany Church Greeter (Long Beach) for hospitality committee 2014 to current.
Former MOMS (making our mothering significant) 2008-2015 with prior core leadership which helped to train new table leaders to invest in the being new mothers and helping guide families to reach our communities.
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 present. Some clinicals to date include preceptorship for seniors with seminar. Juniors for advanced med surg and mental health. Also, have taught in pharm lab and skills lab. Have a passion to remind students about resilience and how to focus on self care.
Have been involved with clinical narratives that was published for St. Joseph hospital as part of the clinical ladder.
Terry Cottle began her nursing career in 1979 when she received her BSN from Loma Linda University School of Nursing. She worked in a variety of hospitals and healthcare settings in San Bernardino and Orange Counties. She completed an MSN in Community Health Nursing and received a School Nurse Services Credential in 2004. Terry has been full-time faculty and Assistant Director for Concordia University Irvine in the Nursing Department since 2008; she teaches in the ABSN, RN to BSN and MSN programs. She participated in transitioning the RN to BSN courses to the online format and wrote several of the courses. She completed her Doctorate in Nursing Practice in 2016 with a focus on Nursing Leadership.
In her free time, Terry enjoys reading, traveling and spending time with family.
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.
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 CUI including trips to China, Guatemala, and Mexico. More recently she has begun to practice as an RN First Assist (RNFA) since 2017 and actively works in this field while concurrently teaching in the ABSN program. She is a regular volunteer at her local church and is involved with children’s programming, music, small groups, mom playdate groups, and Clothing the Homeless ministries.
Tiffani Natalini-Whitmore joined the faculty of the nursing department as a full-time faculty member in 2018 after teaching in an adjunct capacity since 2016. Tiffani has a B.S in movement science from The University of Michigan, an M.S. in ergonomics also from The University of Michigan, and A.D.N. from College of the Desert, and an M.S.N. from The University of Phoenix. Tiffani is currently enrolled in at Southern Connecticut State University where she is pursuing an Ed.D. in nursing education.
Tiffani Natalini-Whitmore 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.
Tiffani is originally from Michigan but has lived in Southern California since 2001. Aside from teaching, Tiffani also enjoys spending time with her husband, watching college sports, traveling the world, and learning about different cultures and people.
Professor Natalini teaches in the ABSN program focusing mainly on medical surgical nursing theory, skills lab, pharmacology lab, and clinical instruction. Professor Natalini is also an advisor for Concordia Nursing Student Association.
Caroline Rae began her career in adult medical/surgical nursing but spent several years as a critical care nurse before transitioning into the educator role. While working as a hospital educator Caroline created and coordinated a Health Professions Academy to introduce high school students to nursing and other health care careers. She began her teaching career as an adjunct clinical instructor at Golden West College and joined Concordia University Irvine’s Department of Nursing full time in 2014.
Caroline is an active community volunteer with extensive experience in disaster preparedness. She is currently the Chairperson for the Leadership Council of the Orange County Medical Reserve Corps, a Captain with Anaheim’s Community Emergency Response Team and a Red Cross volunteer. Caroline is also a certified Stop the Bleed and CPR/BLS instructor. Additionally, she was a founding member of Psi Theta-at-Large (CUI’s chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society) where she currently serves as Vice-President. Previously, Caroline served 2 terms as the Chairperson for the Orange County/Long Beach Consortium for Nursing.
Professor Rae serves on the Academic Student & Faculty Affairs Committee and is Faculty Advisor for Concordia University’s Nursing Student Association.
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
Shannon provides administrative support in the day to day operations of the Department of Nursing. She helps to coordinate Department of Nursing events from interviews to pinning/graduation, works with nursing admissions to onboard new ABSN students, processes Department of Nursing purchase orders/reimbursements, and other various projects.
Maria-Jean, “MJ”, is the Assistant Director and 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 over 30 years of 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.
Henny is the Admissions Counselor for the nursing programs at CUI. She works primarily with prospective ABSN students. She also reviews and processes all the ABSN applications.