Chrystal Dawn Rowe

Chrystal Dawn Rowe is a non-traditional graduate student in UNC Greensboro’s School of Nursing and a vibrant example of the University’s tradition of service. From the age of 19, this woman’s journey has led her through operating rooms in the United States, volunteer surgical work in the Dominican Republic, and military nursing in Iraq. A wife and mother, Rowe is in UNCG’s DNP Nurse Anesthetist Program, affiliated with the Raleigh School of Nurse Anesthesia. The Rebecca Jensen Scott Fellowship in Nurse Anesthesia provides Rowe with the support she needs to meet the next stage of her service-motivated life.

Rebecca Jenson Scott ’74 shares Rowe’s commitment to service through nursing; she also knows what it means to receive assistance in achieving dreams. Scott received the prestigious Katharine Smith Reynolds Merit Scholarship during her undergraduate studies at UNCG. Building upon her UNCG School of Nursing foundation, Scott graduated from the Duke University Medical Center Nurse Anesthesia Program in 1979. In 2006, Scott created the nurse anesthetist fellowship bearing her name.

Rowe earned her associate’s degree in nursing and started working as an RN while pursuing her bachelor’s of science in nursing. She worked with nurse anesthetists who encouraged her to pursue their field.

“After more than a decade as an operating room nurse, providing care in the military and progressing up the management chain, I decided to make the move back to patient care, where I was truly happy,” says Rowe. “I applied to UNCG and the Raleigh School of Nurse Anesthesia. Little did I know that I would be accepted to the first class of the new DNP program at UNCG/RSNA.”

Rowe and her husband considered the challenges accompanying her enrollment in the program:

“I was awarded the Rebecca Jensen Scott Fellowship in Nurse Anesthesia. The fellowship has been a blessing to my family. With all our insecurities of financially how we would afford our basics, like childcare … It has provided us support. I feel very privileged to receive this fellowship.”

Rowe’s nurse anesthesia instructor, Nancy Shedlick, praises her:

“Ms. Rowe always expects excellence from herself and proves to provide safe, high-level anesthesia care, which is evident in her daily clinical evaluations. I have the utmost confidence in Ms. Rowe and her ability to function successfully in her endeavors. In short, she will be an asset to the nurse anesthesia profession.”

Scott’s generosity serves as a springboard for the new nurse anesthesia program, making a difference in the lives of UNCG students and thus enabling them to make a difference in the lives of others.

Story by Zoe Dillard, Donor Relations