Posted: February 25, 2023
Marnee Crawford has been a member of the Northwest College faculty since 2006 and director of the nursing program since 2011, and it’s hard to imagine a person more suited for those positions. Growing up on a farm in northwest Oklahoma, and as someone who still finds joy in the simple act of gardening, Marnee is used to the rural lifestyle that defines the region she now calls home. She also comes from a long line of nurses in her family, including her grandmother, aunt, and own daughter.
After graduating from Southwestern Oklahoma State with her BSN in 1991, Marnee’s career started in the surgical and intensive care unit with the VA in Oklahoma City. She’s spent time in critical care, the operating room, home health care and hospice. That broad experience served her well when she decided to move into nursing education, first at a vocational school in Oklahoma, and later at NWC.
“My mother lived on the south fork, and we’d bring the children to see their grandmother here in the summers,” Marnee said. “We heard there was an opening at Northwest, I talked to the nursing director at the time, and the rest is history.”
Marnee began by teaching fundamentals to new freshmen and psychiatric nursing. She also completed her MSN from the University of Wyoming, and by the fall of 2011, was Director of Nursing. Now with a PhD as well, she also chairs NWC’s health professions division, providing leadership for all healthcare related programs.
The importance of family is obvious when talking with Marnee, and there are reminders of that throughout her office. One is her grandmother’s Candle of Knowledge, an iconic symbol of the nursing profession Marnee still uses as part of pinning ceremonies. But when she talks of family, it’s not just her own flesh and blood. It’s the entire nursing program at Northwest College too.
“We are very much a family. We’re close to our students, care about their success and have a big responsibility to support quality nursing education. You go to any ER in the area and you’re going to encounter someone who graduated from our program. What sets us apart is that close tie to our community, knowing we’re an intimate part of their health and well-being.”