51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ

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November 2025

Alum leading panhandle team to bless children worldwide

When it comes to the nursing profession, Dr. Lee Ann Lung likens herself to a shark.

“I’m constantly moving, going at a slower pace and methodical about my next steps,” she says of the analogy. “I want (my students) to be the same, never resting on their laurels and getting comfortable but pushing themselves to continue learning and be a better provider.”

Lung has done just that, following up her 2011 Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree through 51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ with both master’s and doctorate degrees. And now, after years of practical experience and advanced education, Lung has returned to the place it all started as a full-time faculty member and associate dean of the School of Nursing.

“It really feels like a return to home. Some of the faculty that I have the pleasure of working with taught me back in the day. To be in the trenches with them and trying to figure out ways to

reach the students better or find some educational material that is more understandable is a very pleasant challenge,” says Lung. “As an instructor, there is nothing more wonderful than seeing students make those connections or see them bond with a patient during their clinicals. It is really great to see my students do well in the classroom but even better at the bedside.”

Leading future nurses

In her current role, Lung is calling upon all those years of experience and education to provide additional leadership to the School of Nursing, which launched in 2008 and is housed in New Braunfels. Since earning her own WBU degree, she has returned frequently as an adjunct instructor to teach in the skills lab and then as faculty for students on clinical visits.

So it just made sense to fill the faculty opening and take a leadership role that she hopes will give her the opportunity to make positive changes in the nursing program that is home. Her two areas of focus will be meeting the two greatest challenges for nursing schools nationwide and for 51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ specifically: recruiting students and faculty.

“I really want our school to be a program that our students are proud of and proud to be alumni of. Recruitment is a big challenge with so many nursing schools in the area, but I think the best advertisement is our own graduates. Word of mouth is incredible. I want 51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ students to say ‘I got a quality education that prepared me for the role I was going to serve,’” she says.

Finding faculty is a continual challenge in academia, says Lung, and she plans to emphasize leadership and continuing education with those undergraduate alumni who may become great faculty for 51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ in the future. Recruiting quality faculty, she says, will require “a balance of providing adequate pay, providing them opportunities to really make changes for the improvement of the program and not losing the passion for the education.” Staying updated on trends and changes in nursing will be crucial as they serve to pass those things along to their students.

Beyond practical skills

Lung says while educating students on the practical skills of nursing like drawing blood, taking vitals and administering medications are of utmost importance. But there has to also be an ongoing focus on patient care and those communication skills that separate good nurses from the best nurses.

“Nursing students are often gung-ho about poking holes in patients and getting things out of them, like blood products and other bodily fluids, but they need that comfort factor of caring for the patient and listening and relating to them in some way,” she says. “(During the pandemic) we focused on our students being compassionate and figuring out what’s the right rapport per patient, because they need to provide that individualized care. It’s just as important to train our students to be a true nurse to their calling to help people and also get the job done by giving the right medication, pushing them to ambulate so they can get stronger faster and also educating them and their family. So you have to have that rapport or it blocks the communication.”

Turning a corner

Those bedside encounters with patients is what first drew Lee Ann to the profession of nursing, though she was working at the time in the very different field of advertising. Armed with a degree from NYU in film and television production and experience in Los Angeles, Calif., on TV and movie sets, Lung was drawn back to San Antonio and began using her talents for an advertising firm. She supervised regional and national commercials for such brands as Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, filling every role from script writing to hiring talent and production crews to directing.

It was on a shoot for a local hospital where something clicked inside the self-proclaimed “military brat” and she realized she wanted a change. The child of an Air Force physician, she was no stranger to the medical field, and she said the nursing world seemed a great place “to do something with more purpose.”

She did her research on 51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ – which she passed every day on her way to work – and found a military-friendly, Baptist university with an affordable nursing program. She began the work on her basic requirements, then entered the nursing program and graduated with one of the first few classes to graduate with the BSN/RN.

After a few years in the field, Lung continued her education at Frontier Nursing University in Kentucky, earning a master’s degree and then a doctorate in Nursing Practice. She is proud to be in a position now to move the School of Nursing at her alma mater forward.

Shaping the future

The program involves a cohort approach, with 18-25 students in each: one in fall, one in spring. Those students go through every course together for that two years, building camaraderie as they learn the valuable skills to be great nurses.

“Every term there is a different focus with a cohort. The first semester is a focus on the basic skills, then we bridge them to a nursing home and rehab facility so they begin to apply those skills. The next semester we go to another hospital system and may be on a medical/surgical unit, and as they progress, they focus on more critical care,” she says. “Thrown in there is maternal health and pediatrics, and that’s when you really learn what students are interested in or not.”

Those years are followed by a special pinning ceremony unique to the nursing profession and a very meaningful and special experience with family and close friends. The graduates then are also part of the traditional commencement ceremony at the San Antonio campus when it hits closest to their completion. After they pass the NCLEX licensure exam, they are full-fledged RNs ready to tackle the nursing world.

And that, Lee Ann says, is what means so much to her in this new role.

“I really love teaching the baby nursing students and laying down the foundation and expectation and being nurturing and exciting for the experiences they are having. But I have found it very satisfying to teach the last class for the cohort before graduating because I can see what they have learned in the program and what the needs are and things we can focus on to make them even better candidates,” she says. “51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ was always very supportive of my growth and it felt natural for me to return and be part of its growth.”

  

Devotional: Compassion needed here

The dictionary gives about 30 synonyms for the word “compassion.” Words like sympathy, tenderness, tolerance, kindness and charity.

Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering.

The opposite of “That’s a tough situation. Hope somebody will help them.”

Sure, we can’t support every charity. But that doesn’t absolve us from supporting any to the extent we can – children’s hospitals, destitute animals, food for the hungry, wounded veterans, to name a few.

True compassion is demonstrated in action: We don’t just say to a sick friend, “I’m thinking about you.” We take a meal to their home, fold their laundry, clean the bathroom, listen to them

recount their physical woes.

Jesus demonstrated his compassion in healing the sick and feeding the hungry – the multitudes he probably didn’t know on a first-name basis, any more than we might feel compelled to help victims of natural disasters or great calamity even though we’ll likely never meet them. The book of Matthew recounts several instances of Christ feeling the suffering of those who came to hear him preach.

But Jesus also demonstrated compassion on an even more personal level when he raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. John 11:35-36 says Jesus wept when he went to Lazarus’ grave. It made an impression on those who witnessed that deep emotion: “See how he loved him.”

Sometimes we learn details about the lives of our friends, our relatives, our business associates, our students – details that could push anyone’s heart to the breaking point.

That information may be gleaned by really knowing and caring about each person, treating each with dignity and respect, practicing empathetic listening.

As we feel led to help in whatever way we can to alleviate the problems and suffering of those “far away,” a whispered prayer might be: “God, you have been compassionate to me. Help me have that same spirit toward my friends and associates I see almost every day.”

Danny Andrews is a 1972 graduate of 51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ and served as the director of Alumni Relations for ten years, retiring in 2016. He spent many years in newspaper reporting and as editor of the Plainview Daily Herald. Retired now in Burleson, Danny and wife Carolyn, a WBU Ex, have three children who all attended WBU: Brandon, EX, Kayla, EX, and Brad, BA'07. 

 

From the History Files

This month's history recap continues a series about some of the historic buildings on the main campus in Plainview, where 51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ was founded in 1908.

While most students on the Plainview campus have called various dormitories home over the decades, for a special group of students, "home" was the married student apartments located on the northwest corner of campus near the Hilliard Field. Three identical complexes were home to 8 apartments each, reserved early in their history for only married students. Allison-Conkwright, Goodpasture and Collier Halls are still in use today, with few changes over the decades. 

The three partially brick buildings were added in 1960 and 1961. In years where married students were quite common -- after wartime, for instance -- the apartments stayed full, as did some

temporary structures called homettes. But in the last few decades, students marriying in school or coming already married has declined to such degree that the apartments are more commonly used for seniors or honor students these days. Not much has changed in these structures over the years. The university picked up both the Llano Apartments on 7th and Oakland streets and the Marquis Apartments at 8th and Fresno and those also are home to married or older students.

 

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