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IU School of Nursing alumna Susan Buhr: "My nursing degree has been very good to me."

By Jill Jansen

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Graphic including photo of Susan and Randy Buhr, quote from Susan from the article, and the IU School of Nursing logo

Through all the seasons of life, Susan Buhr, BSN'91, RN, ACM, has been able to count on her nursing degree. In the early years, working as a bedside nurse allowed her to save for the purchase of her first home. When she wanted to explore the corporate world, it provided the clinical experience to lead quality and population health improvement initiatives in the insurance industry. And now later in life as she prepares for retirement, nursing has allowed her to reconnect with patients working part-time as a case management nurse.

“There are a lot of things you can do with a nursing career that feed different times of your life,” said Susan, who graduated from the IU School of Nursing in 1991. “My nursing degree has been very good to me.”

Benefiting firsthand from the lifelong value of a nursing education, Susan, along with her husband, Randy, are including a gift to the IU School of Nursing in their estate plan. The couple is creating an endowed scholarship fund to support students from Indiana enrolled in either the BSN or Accelerated BSN programs.

Both Susan and Randy were blessed to graduate from college without any student loans. Randy earned degrees from the University of Illinois and The Ohio State University. They started talking about endowing a scholarship more than 10 years ago and look forward to being a blessing to others.

“Instead of a one-time donation, we thought it would be more of a legacy to do something in perpetuity that could help lots of people,” Susan explained. “We’re giving back because we realize that we were blessed in ways that some students aren’t—college is different now, and the cost of higher education can be a barrier for many to attend.”  

For the scholarship that will bear their name, the Buhrs have decided that while grades will be considered, recipients won’t have to be straight-A students.

“I have never felt that a nursing student needs to have a perfect GPA to be a great nurse," Susan said. “I think there are a lot of students who are clinically driven with good grades and would excel at nursing if they have the financial assistance to go to a school like IU.”

In addition to offering financial support, Susan believes she and Randy are providing nursing students the added benefit of career opportunity, flexibility and choices that will last a lifetime.

“When I tell young nurses about all of the jobs I’ve had where I’ve used my experience as a nurse, I always stress that you don’t have to change fields or careers to try something new,” she said. “There are many ways you can use a nursing degree."

  • Vital Signs Newsroom
    • 2025
    • 2024
      • December 2024 BSN graduate features
      • Celebrating Faculty and Student Excellence: Harm Prevention Partners Program Impact
      • Faculty Feature: Dr. Heather Hardin
      • Alumni Feature: Dawn Sites
      • Student Feature: Heather Ward
      • Donor Feature: Susan Buhr
      • Student Feature: Grace Heitzmann
      • Dr. Miyeon Jung
      • First-Generation Student: Chyna Gates
      • Resilience Redefined
      • Making Tomorrow Possible
      • Faculty Research: Dr. Kristin Levoy
      • Student Feature: Dayton Livingston
      • Alumni Feature: Savannah Langbehn
      • Donor Feature: Dr. Rose Mays
      • Bryan White and Marian Gilhooly lead in developing cultural competencies for the nursing curriculum
      • IU School of Nursing addresses state's nursing shortage with largest beginning class ever
      • Faculty Feature: Dr. Greg Carter
      • Celebrating Clinical Nurse Specialists!
      • Senior nursing students Serin Kang and Tomi Abegunde are ready for the start of the fall semester
      • Dr. Yvonne Lu's community-based research aims to increase health literacy about Alzheimer's Disease and related dementia among African Americans
      • IU student nurses experience healthcare in Kenya
      • Faculty Feature: Dr. Elizabeth Holtel
      • Dr. Jane von Gaudecker receives $2.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to address epilepsy treatment gap in western Kenya
      • Catalyst for change in The Kingdom of Eswatini
      • Fagan and Howle named Jonas Scholars
      • Jennifer Fuentes
      • Charlotte Carlley
      • IU School of Nursing Faculty Promotions
      • Dr. Jamie Rausch awarded August Tomusk Research Fund grant
      • Top 100: Gillienne Boyd
      • Elite 50: Stephanie Zidek
      • Top 100: Megan Szymanski
      • Top 100: Abby Henderson
      • Top 100: Emma Bucher
      • Kay Farmer
      • Kiki Suttle
      • Elham Algashgari
      • U.S. News & World Report's Best Online Nursing Rankings 2024
      • Top 100: Valliei Chandrakumar
      • Faculty Feature: Dr. Cindy Hill
      • Top 100: Tatum Murawski
      • Faculty Feature: Britney Arce
      • Faculty Feature: Dr. Melanie Gall
      • National Mentoring Month: Drs. Pei-Shiun Chang and Yvonne Lu
      • $15.5 million NIH award funds development of national network to include nursing home residents in clinical trials
      • Meet the IU School of Nursing Regatta Teams!
      • Meet the IU School of Nursing Regatta Teams!
      • Meet the IU School of Nursing Regatta Teams!
      • Student Feature: Ella Colclesser
      • Hispanic Heritage Month
      • Faculty Research: Dr. Jane von Gaudecker
      • Faculty Research: Dr. Jamie Rausch
      • Meet the IU School of Nursing Regatta Teams!
      • Faculty Research: Dr. Jennifer Brower
      • Meet the IU School of Nursing Regatta Volunteers!
      • Graduate student: Sarah Kenny
      • Hispanic Heritage Month Comes to a Close
      • Faculty Driving Change: Linda Romines and Sheila Wright
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