Voss finishes 29-year with top teaching honor

For a nurse who loved teaching, being named the college’s teacher of the year in her final year of teaching is truly the cherry on top. 

“As I leave, this was a wonderful gift to give to me, to just verify that I've made a difference,” said Jo Voss, who retired from the South Dakota State University College of Nursing May 21 after a 29-year career at State. 

“From the time I was very, very young, I wanted to be a teacher. I admired my teachers in elementary and high school. My father wanted me to be a nurse. He said there would always be a need for nurses. I went that way,” said Voss, who grew up in Hancock, Minnesota, near Morris and went to school at Winona State. 

“I enjoyed nursing but never lost my passion to be a teacher,” said Voss, who, three years after earning her diploma at Winona, had her first teaching position. In 1986-87, she taught at St. Cloud (Minnesota) School of Nursing. 

Also during this time, she was education director for the American Cancer Society in Mille Lacs South, Minnesota, and became the diabetes educator at Fairview Princeton (Minnesota) Hospital. By 1992, Voss had become education coordinator at Fairview Northland Regional Hospital in Princeton. 

During this time she also was working on her master’s degree in nursing education at the University of Minnesota. She received the degree in 1993 and spent 1994-95 instructing at Anoka Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. 

Arrived at SDSU in 1995 

Voss was searching for a position in a baccalaureate program and applied for a nine-month faculty position with SDSU in Rapid City. 

She signed on in August 1995, about 1 ½ years after Roberta Olson had become dean. “We didn’t have state-the-art equipment,” and the hospital beds used in nurse training were old. One of the beds in the downstairs lab would fold up at the patient’s knees with a push of the button. Getting the bed to flatten back to level was another matter. 

The only option was to jump on the bed, Voss said. “It wasn’t too bad. I only had to do it four or five times.” 

She vividly remembers one particular time. 

“I had only been on staff for a couple months. Dean Roberta Olson (who normally is in Brookings) was in the building. She came down to the lab. I’m jumping on the bed. I was speechless. I did not know what to even say. I slithered off the bed, dismissed the students, and then Roberta was gone. I was horrified.” 

Voss didn’t hear from the dean, nor did she reach out to offer an explanation, but “three months later we got new beds, and I hadn’t requested it.” 

Voss never did discuss the incident with Olson, but she and the students certainly did. “We talked about it until the day they graduated. ‘Remember the day you were jumping on the bed and the dean came in,’” the students would recall. 

Becoming an NCLEX expert 

Voss calls herself a fun teacher, however, taking tests isn’t fun. That can be downright stressful. Helping students handle that stress has been an aspect of Voss’ career since 2005. 

She spent July 23-27, 2007, in Chicago with 14 other nurses from throughout the nation writing questions reflecting current nursing issues. Voss also wrote questions in 2010. 

“It made me understand the NCLEX so much better about what went into writing questions. It made me an expert in test-question writing. That set me on a trajectory to become an expert in test-item analysis and helping students to prepare for NCLEX.  The other part of that was helping students prepare to retake NCLEX. I’ve helped many students be successful on their second attempt. 

Stay calm, breath deep 

In 2011, Voss attended the Institute of Heart Math near San Jose, California to become a mentor. 

“I teach personal resilience skills. Students use these skills before and during studying, and before, during and after exams. It helps to keep them calm and at ease instead of feeling really anxious. If you let your heart control your brain, you change your heart rate variability to one of being more calm and coherent and that helps build resilience. 

The techniques she teaches center on “breathing in from your heart a little bit deeper and slower than usual and it helps to calm you down. 

“You can think better, you can problem-solve better, your memory is better, people live longer using these techniques. Those are some of the benefits. 

“Students have reported back to me increased test scores from 4 to 38%. Recently I taught these techniques to a graduate student who, on the first exam (for a pathophysiology class) got 60%. On the next exam this student got a 92% by getting a handle on test anxiety.” 

One hour produces better life 

One student who benefitted from the techniques was Joseph Wescoat, 2022 graduate and current SDSU graduate student. “Heart Math helped me so much through my undergrad career. I was never certain of myself at the beginning and found nursing school to be challenging, however with Heart Math I was able to take control of my nervousness and channel it to my advantage. 

“As a result I was able to meet the criteria needed to further my education in graduate school. I am very grateful to her for that and for what she has taught me.” 

Voss gave the Heart Math sessions — three sessions at 20 minutes per session — face to face until COVID and then switched to Zoom. 

That has gone well, Voss said. “Students appreciate both the privacy and the convenience.” Zoom also allows her to serve students in Brookings and Sioux Falls as well. “I’ve done one face to face in the last three years,” she said. Fifty to 75 students per year go through the training. “Nursing school is a very stressful,” Voss emphasizes.

Bringing technology to the college 

While Voss, 66, is old enough to remember sending her first email (1997), she quickly became technologically savvy. 

“I had to learn email when I enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1997.” 

Online testing arrived for the College of Nursing around 2000, right after the university implemented the WebCT platform. She debuted it with her pathophysiology class. 

“I was tenacious, and I started online testing in the College of Nursing. I learned the technology, I implemented it, I problem solved when things didn’t go right, and I started that … I know I was a ground breaker with online testing. I made a big difference with that online testing. Now we are exclusively doing that for the College of Nursing.” 

It was actually Voss’ drive to be a better teacher that motivated her to become tech savvy. “What really pushed me is our Scantron was broken and I wanted (test) item analysis. I didn’t want to hand grade exams. I saw all these benefits with online testing. I am teacher way down deep in my heart and I thought I could help other faculty learn this technology. I just knew it would be OK, that this would be the future."

A growing Rapid City program 

Other changes Voss has seen is the growth of Rapid City program from 32 students being admitted each year to 48. 

Also, “Our physical space has really changed over 30 years. The lab used to be like a rat maze down in the basement of the (downtown) health science center. There were all these little, tiny rooms. You couldn’t have more than six students in a lab group. Thanks to Dean Olson, we had a major remodeling to create two huge rooms. 

“It was just amazing to be able to have 12 students in your lab group and to have a building that was a little more inviting to students.” 

When the program outgrew space at the health science center, it was able to lease space at Black Hills State-Rapid City in the west part of town. 

“We have most of the day classes there because their facility is set up for evening classes. …. We just kept growing. Wonderful, inviting, student friendly area at Black Hills State. Parking is not a problem,” which is a definite contrast from when the program was downtown. 

‘I know I made a difference’ 

Reflecting back on her teaching career, Voss said, “I know I made a difference, whatever I did, even if it was small. I listened to students tell me about difficulties in their home life. I helped them with their study habits. I helped them make a decision, big or small. I gave them an extension (on an assignment). 

“My husband just had surgery last week, and the pre-op nurse was one of my former students. She graduated 10 years ago, and she still remembers the test taking session I had with her. I was the person that made the difference. That was pretty profound, receiving that affirmation that I had made a difference.”

Retirement = more family time 

Although retired now, Voss still plans to make a difference, just in a different classroom. 

“I still have a little oomph, but I want to give the rest of my oomph to my husband and grandchildren. My husband has been retired for three years. I know he is tired of me saying I can’t go out for breakfast because I have to grade papers. I want to go camping in the fall instead of saying, ‘No, I have to go to meetings.’ 

“Also, I want to be able to spend more time with my four grandsons. Two of them are here in Rapid City, and the other two are in Oklahoma City.” 

The careers of Voss, Cindy Elverson and Tom Stenvig were recognized at a May 8 program at McCrory Gardens.
Voss observed, “Even though the three of us are leaving and we have been here a long time, there is new blood and there is good blood. The students will be fine. They’re in capable hands. I know the College of Nursing is going to be OK even though the three of us are retiring.”