Alumni Service Award Recipient
School of Nursing, September 29, 2010
Melissa Thorson, the Trauma Program Manager at North Memorial Medical Center, Robbinsdale, Minnesota, received a bachelor of science degree (1998) and a master of science degree (2003) from the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. She has served two terms as a trustee on the Nursing Foundation Board, as a member of the Foundation's Shareholders Committee, and as a vibrant leader on the Nursing Alumni Society Board, which she chaired for three years. During her tenure as chair, the Nursing Alumni Society was honored by University of Minnesota Alumni Association as the 2006 Alumni Society of the Year and it received the 2009 Program Extraordinaire for the creation of the innovative and highly effective Speed Mentoring Program. She is credited also with developing the Best Foot Forward event and Centennial plans for honoring the School's 100 Distinguished Alumni. In addition, she has volunteered for years as a mentor and preceptor for countless graduate students in both the adult health and gerontological clinical nurse specialist tracks of the School of Nursing.
Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.