From the time she was 10 and faced weeks of hospital bed rest because of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Susan Miovech wanted to be a nurse. Today, she holds an appointment as associate professor of nursing at Holy Family University in Philadelphia. Her work in the health care profession is the culmination of a life spent giving her best and striving to be her best. And Saint Joseph's College played a key role in that journey.
As Dr. Miovech says, the flexibility of the college's distance education program allowed her to "study, work, and raise my family." She participated in the program from 1976 to 1982 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in professional arts, earning credits she would later use toward a bachelor's in nursing and taking "the first step into a mind-expanding educational journey." During that time, Miovech had her second child, overcame additional health challenges and continued working in a hospital maternity ward.
Knowing she wanted to teach, she continued her academic career at the University of Pennsylvania, eventually earning three nursing degrees: a bachelor's, a master's and a doctorate. Along with her teaching duties, she has contributed chapters to several books, published multiple journal articles, and served as faculty moderator of the Student Nurses Association at Holy Family. In 2008, she traveled to China with 40 other nurses as part of the People to People Ambassador Program to exchange information on nursing education and health care delivery. For this alumna, the journey of self-discovery never ends.
Dr. Susan Miovech
Abington Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, RN
Saint Joseph's College, BSPA
University of Pennsylvania, BSN, MS, PhD
By Anne-Marie Seltzer
