News

NEO Department Chair of Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Allied Health Debbie Morgan will retire after 15 years in the role. Longtime NEO Nursing Instructor Kathleen Norman will serve as the interim during the 2021-2022 academic year. Morgan became the department chair in 2004 and during her tenure, NEO Nursing has undergone several changes, such as the addition of the Fast Track LPN/Paramedic to RN program option and a complete curriculum redesign beginning in 2016. “I am so proud of the positive changes we have made together during my tenure,” said Morgan. “I am proud to call myself a Norseman and to have played a part in the ongoing success of your students”

Joining Morgan in retirement will be Vickie Garner, who came out of retirement in 2018 and helped NEO lay the groundwork to expand the Fast Track LPN/Paramedic to RN program option to Northeast Tech in Kansas, Okla. “I am not saying I won’t be back. I never say never,” said Garner. “But I appreciate all the opportunities I’ve had at NEO.” In her time at NEO, Norman has overseen First Year students and served as a team leader of the First Year Faculty. An NEO alumna, she received her BSN in 2007 from Oklahoma Wesleyan University and her MSN from the University of Oklahoma in 2010. For more information on the NEO Nursing Program, contact Norman at Kathleen.Norman@neo.edu. (Photo from left: Kathleen Norman, Debbie Morgan, and Vickie Garner)