UTEP Nursing Clinical Instructor Recognized by University Medical Center

Last Updated on April 07, 2020 at 12:00 AM

Originally published April 07, 2020

By Laura L. Acosta

UTEP Communications

Mary Leon, clinical nursing instructor at The University of Texas at El Paso’s School of Nursing, was awarded University Medical Center’s (UMC) inaugural 2019 Faculty of the Year Award.

UTEP Clinical Nursing Instructor Mary Leon, second from right, was named UMC's 2019 Faculty of the Year. Photo courtesy of UMC. (Please note: The photo was taken prior to the City of El Paso's Stay Home, Work Safe order went into effect.)

During the fall 2019 semester, Leon supervised 40 UTEP students participating in the maternal/newborn care clinical rotation experience at UMC. This clinical experience provides students an opportunity to apply theoretical concepts and implement safe patient care to mothers and newborns at the hospital. UMC recognized Leon for going above and beyond in supervising students and submitting all required documents accurately and in a timely manner. The award was presented in February 2020.

Leon began her career as a labor and delivery staff nurse in 1978 at Thomason General Hospital (now UMC) after graduating with an associate degree in nursing from El Paso Community College. She earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from UTEP.

Leon has taught intermittently in UTEP’s nursing program since 1992. She also was a clinical nursing instructor at New Mexico State University from 2014 to 2018. Leon previously served as a labor and delivery charge nurse and hospital nursing supervisor at what is now the Hospitals of Providence Memorial Campus and as a maternal/newborn charge nurse and hospital nursing supervisor at Del Sol Medical Center.

Out of 374 students currently enrolled in UTEP’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, 96 of them participated in clinical rotations in UMC’s specialty units such as the intensive care unit, emergency department, the mother and baby unit, and the medical-surgical department during the spring 2020 semester. As a precautionary measure, on March 27, 2020, the School of Nursing suspended all clinical experiences for traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing students in the fifth, sixth and seventh semesters until further notice. Traditional BSN students in the eighth semester are able to continue their clinical experiences if the clinical site agrees.