Faculty Spotlight: Meghan Eagen-Torkko

Meghan Eagen-Torkko is the Interim Director of Nursing in SNHS. We took the time to catch up with Meghan and learn a little more about her as she steps into this critical role.

As a first-gen student, there were a lot of things about higher ed that were complicated to figure out, and seemed like unnecessary hurdles to the goal of graduation and practicing as a nurse. I came to nursing as a second-degree student, like many of our students, and 2021 is my 20th anniversary of passing the NCLEX! Twelve years ago, I started as a certified nurse-midwife, serving communities with many needs and fewer resources, in Detroit, Flint, and Ypsilanti, Michigan, because those are the communities I care most about. When I came to higher ed as a PhD student and later as faculty, these communities remained my focus, and one of the reasons I chose to come to Bothell is our extraordinarily diverse and active student body.

In my research, I look at systems and lines of power and how they intersect with outcomes – in sexual and reproductive health, in pregnancy and lactation, in nursing education. The systems of healthcare and of healthcare education haven’t been built for the people I care about most, and the biggest part of our work as nursing faculty is to change that. As interim director of nursing, my goal is to help Bothell to move along the path to changing healthcare education and healthcare. We have so many strengths already – long-standing community engagement, exceptional students, excellent faculty – and my goal is to help us identify ways to leverage those strengths to increase equity in our school and in our practice as nurses. As an interim leader, my role is to ensure that we keep moving on the path towards the goals that we’ve set for ourselves as a school and our students have set for themselves. Like everything in nursing, my first work in admin has been an opportunity for growth, and I’m excited to see where our school ends up.