UTEP Alum Rose Rivera Joins Student Health and Wellness Center

Published June 17, 2022
By Darlene Muguiro
UTEP College of Health Sciences

In less than one year, the Student Health and Wellness Center (SHWC) has successfully recruited and hired two UTEP alums for its clinical care team. Rose Rivera, a 1998 graduate of the UTEP School of Nursing, is the newest alum to join the SHWC team, rounding out the center’s staff along with Cheyenne Rincones, SHWC’s nurse practitioner, a 2004 BSN degree recipient.

Rivera says that she didn’t always know that she wanted to go into the nursing field; rather, she was attracted to the opportunity through a family connection.

“When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, nursing never really crossed my mind. But when I was in high school, my cousin became engaged to a nurse,” she said. “I thought, well, she has her life together, so I told her I was going to be a nurse. I visited her at her work, at the NICU in the former Thomason Hospital. Another nurse started an IV on a preemie baby, and I knew right then that I wanted to do this.”

In the last semester before graduating with her BSN degree, Rivera became a nurse technician for Sierra Medical Center’s orthopedic unit, and was later recruited by one of the orthopedic surgeons to work in his office and later at an orthopedic specialty hospital. Rivera then took a different path in her career, spending fourteen years as a school nurse for an area elementary and middle school. While the settings were quite different, she was able to utilize her knowledge in orthopedics, mentioning “there are definitely lots of broken bones” from children experiencing accidents in the schools, and adding, “It’s a blessing how your life takes different paths to bring you right where you’re supposed to be.”

During her last assignment at Hornedo Middle School, Rivera was approached by Rincones about the SHWC staff nurse position. She had already been considering a move back to the university, but says Rincones convinced her to apply for the position, which had been recently vacated by a retired employee. On her first day back at UTEP, Rivera immediately noticed the physical transformation on campus that had happened several years prior, saying “it was magical. I felt like I was back home, where I belong.”

In her current position as staff nurse, Rivera focuses on compliance for students in the College of Health Sciences and School of Nursing, completing blood titers and scheduling students for labs and immunizations. She also assists in women’s health services and outreach for the center via in-person and virtual tabling events, where she speaks with students about the center’s services.

Rivera says she plans to stay at UTEP and retire. She is excited by the multiple professional and personal development opportunities of working for her alma mater.

“The door is wide open at this point, and the future looks bright,” she said.  “I have so many options here, to help develop the clinic into what I envision in my mind and making students more aware, encouraging them to start their general care here. I could also pursue my master’s degree and teach for the School of Nursing. But I’m definitely here to stay.”

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Go Miners!

To learn more about the Student Health and Wellness Center’s services, please visit: www.utep.edu/chs/shc/.