Alumna Donna Hartian '26 completed the RN to BSN program through ODUGlobal, working toward her goal of becoming a nurse educator.
Donna Hartian ’26 has never stopped dreaming, and those dreams carried her to Virginia. This May, she’ll earn her third undergraduate degree after completing the RN to BSN program through ODUGlobal.
Although her career journey hasn’t been linear, she’s one of many adults in the class of 2026 who decided they wanted more, recognizing after years of experience where their passions and skills intersect.
Hartian’s first career was in elementary education, a path she chose because of her older sister's less-than-ideal experience in the field. Her sister had already been a nurse for several years and described poor working conditions and safety concerns at her Pennsylvania hospital.
After a few years of teaching, she still couldn’t shake her dream though. That led to a return to school for an associate degree in nursing just a few years later.
Hartian has been a nurse since 1998, working in every corner of the field from the cardiac cath lab to critical care. Today, she’s an elementary school nurse, melding her skills in teaching and nursing to help kids learn more about their health. She’s also used a project from her program at ODU to teach other school nurses about responding to disaster scenarios. That project affirmed an idea that had been brewing for years.
“I wanted to educate my fellow school nurses in the district on a new law that required training for trauma response in the event of, for instance, a school shooting,” said Hartian, who added that many of her peers had never received that kind of instruction.
“When I got feedback from them, it was so gratifying and rewarding to hear, ‘Donna, this is your niche. You should be an educator. You should be teaching nurses.’”
Hartian brought decades of experience into the training project, including nursing through the 2020 global pandemic. When COVID-19 overloaded the healthcare system, Hartian was working in a hospital in full protective gear, hoping every shift that she wouldn’t contract the virus or bring it home to her family. She was physically and mentally exhausted, injured from the face mask, and thinking about what needed to come next in her career.
Nursing education became her long-term goal, a vision born out of two career paths and a desire to impart her knowledge to a new generation of nurses.
“My true love is teaching,” she said. “Even with the kids coming into the clinic now, I take every opportunity I can to explain something to them about what is happening.”
Hartian completes her RN to BSN program in May, and she’s already been approached by other professionals in the field about adjunct teaching positions when she’s ready. None of it would have happened without a dream, Hartian says.
The dream she refers to isn’t just a vision for her career—it’s a literal dream that she interpreted as a sign that she should move from Pennsylvania to Virginia. She believed in the sign so wholeheartedly that after she interviewed at a Virginia hospital, she immediately signed a lease on an apartment before getting the job offer. That offer did come—to her relief—and in the years that followed, Hartian met her future husband, started a family, and built a nursing career.
Hartian chose ODU to help her turn her associate degree into a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She noted this is just the first stop on a long journey toward a graduate degree needed to teach at a college level.
“I think the ODUGlobal program is a lot more friendly toward working nurses than people realize. I never really thought that it was something I would be able to do. And then once I became involved in it, I realized I could have done this so long ago. I wish I hadn't waited,” Hartian said.
The flexibility of learning online and affordable tuition appealed to Hartian, who wanted to keep working and supporting her family while she earned her degree. Her two kids are also in college, so the quest for lifelong learning has been a team effort.
“My husband and kids have been extraordinarily supportive and encouraging. They have had words of advice in times that I've struggled, and they’ve always told me that I can do it. ‘Just keep going, Mom, you can do this,’” she said.
The support she felt permeated the entire student journey. Admissions counselor Connie Estep shepherded her through the application and acceptance process, going beyond her job description to answer questions and remove obstacles, Hartian says. Donna Rose, a clinical associate professor in ODU’s Ellmer School of Nursing, also set an example of leadership steeped in compassion that Hartian hopes to embody when she finally accepts her first nursing education job.
“It has been my pleasure to work with Hartian in several courses in the RN to BSN program. She exhibited maturity, professionalism, and leadership, guiding group projects with confidence,” Rose said.
Hartian plans to pursue her master’s and doctorate degrees so she can earn the credentials to teach in a university nursing program.
“I believe it’s never too late. I spent my early years raising kids, and now it’s my turn. I never stopped dreaming.”
