Tara Hommelson

Assistant Professor Tara Hommelson is teaching her future colleagues. At any given moment, her office can be filled with students learning insights on how they, too, can become a pediatric nurse.

Hommelson’s experience as a pediatric nurse practitioner provides a wealth of knowledge in a variety of pediatric areas to mbu’s School of Nursing. She’s worked in adolescent medicine, research, medicalsurgical, pediatric hematology, oncology and plastic surgery.

During her career, she has worked for three major hospitals—Children’s, Cardinal Glennon and St. Louis University Hospital—but always felt a desire to become a nursing professor.

“When I was practicing, I was always working with medical students, residents and precepting new nurses or nurse practitioners,” said Hommelson. “I really loved it; I really loved having a student with me. Every week we would have new residents in our clinic, so I feel like I would learn a lot from them, and I could teach them some things about more specialized adolescent medicine. Students are also just so passionate, so excited to be there and learn, so that made it easy. So I just felt drawn to education.”

Hommelson started teaching at a different university, but when a colleague and friend, Dr. Ashley Bell, joined the nursing faculty at mbu, Hommelson knew she too wanted to join the mbu School of Nursing family.

“When I interviewed, I said it just felt more like a family, and I’ve never had that experience at a job,” said Hommelson. “Here, when I leave my home in the morning, and I take my daughter to daycare, it’s like I’m coming from one home to the next, which I don’t think you can say about many work cultures.”

The students are significant members of that family.

“I feel like students work into that family as well, especially where my office is, right here in the hallway; we always laugh, just because they’re in and out all the time,” said Hommelson. “My group that’s graduating in April, I’ve really kind of been closest with them because I’ve had them now each semester since I’ve started here.”

Hommelson was also encouraged by the innovative concept-based curriculum approach at mbu

“With concept-based curriculum, as we present the concept each time, or give a refresher if they’ve seen the condition a couple times, students take what they are learning in the class and translate it in a clinical setting,” said Hommelson. “They go into clinicals with a solid understanding and a strong foundation of that concept. It’s so different; I love it.”

Hommelson is working with Pyatt to launch a Master of Science in Nursing-Family Nurse Practitioner, the first of potentially three master’s degrees in nursing coming to mbu. As nurse practitioners, graduates will be able to diagnose and treat patients of their own.

“Most of the students want to come back and become a family nurse practitioner at mbu, and that’s special to me,” said Hommelson. “It speaks a lot about our program that they want to come back and continue their education.” mbu offers the only evangelical Christian nursing program in the St. Louis area.

“While there are restrictions, nursing is an extension of us living out God’s call for us to care for those in need,” said Hommelson. “We’re teaching our students that our Christian faith makes us strong and compassionate nurses.”