Odessa College’s new dean of the School of Health Sciences, Allisa Cornelius, is settling into her position.
With a background in a variety of nursing, Alissa Cornelius now hopes to make a larger impact on students as the dean of the School of Health Sciences at Odessa College’s main campus.
Cornelius has been at OC for seven and a half years, starting at the Monahans Extension as a vocational nursing instructor.
In January 2019, she became director of vocational nursing and in January 2020, was named director of nursing.
Previously, she worked at Medical Center Hospital’s Women’s and Infants Center and then at Ward Memorial Hospital in Monahans.
Cornelius and her husband, Cole, have three children. She grew up in Anson and earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Hardin-Simmons University and a master’s degree in nursing education from Walden University online.
Cornelius’ sophomore year of college, she found herself a single mom, which made her studies difficult.
“It’s worth it. She (her daughter) used to come to me to nursing school and she would sit next to me if the daycare was closed … They had had this little table at the back and she would just sit there and color,” Cornelius recalled.
She added that she was always interested in the medical field. A high school athlete, Cornelius thought she would go into physical therapy at Hardin-Simmons, but after she found out she was going to have a baby, she didn’t think that was the best option.
“I looked at my credits and talked to my advisor and we saw that I wouldn’t lose any time if I just went over into nursing,” Cornelius said.
Physical therapy was more time consuming than nursing, she said, and to be competitive in the workforce, she figured she would need a doctorate.
“… But with nursing … from that point, it was going to be three and a half years and immediately I could start working. There was a really nice hospital right next to the college, so I just felt like that was the best place to secure a future for my daughter and I, to make sure that there was job stability …,” Cornelius said.
Cornelius said she never aspired to be on the administrative side of education. She remembered sitting in class and thinking she wanted to teach nursing students one day.
“… It’s always been a passion of mine to be in education and when the position opened up in Monahans, it was the perfect time in my life …,” Cornelius said.
“… I absolutely love teaching, being in the classroom and seeing the students make their sacrifices and just work really hard for their goal is something that is so rewarding. …,” she added.
Being dean of the School of Health Sciences requires a lot of long-term thinking.
“I’ve only been in it for a little bit, but it’s a lot of projecting what needs might be and making sure that we’re prepared to answer those needs. Right now, everything is about serving more students. Enrollment is a big push right now because that’s what our community needs. That’s what our state needs. And so we’re having a lot of conversations about how we can best prepare for this influx of students that we want, from faculty side versus course side …,” Cornelius said.
Vice President for Instruction Tramaine Anderson said Cornelius has a wealth of knowledge and has done a phenomenal job in all her positions at OC.
“Allisa, has been a student herself and have a wonderful story of overcoming some challenges. She is compassionate, understanding and fair and exhibits a keen focus on student success. I have seen her in moments where she is thinking about how to best serve students and help meet the needs of students at Odessa College,” Anderson said.
Annually the School of Health Sciences has a maximum enrollment of 371. This can be broken down into the following individual programs: Surgical Technology, 10; Physical Therapy Assistant, 28; Radiologic Technologist, 36; Fire, 42; EMT, 46; Paramedic, 24; Registered Nursing, 70; and Licensed Vocational Nursing, 115, information from Cornelius said.
The college also is planning for the Wood Health Sciences Building.
One of her objectives is to provide quality instruction so that students coming out of OC will serve their patients well.
“… Then the hope is that that generates more enrollment. When they see what what we create and the the caliber of students that we expect, the care that they receive from Odessa College students is something that hopefully comes back full circle,” she said.
