Nursing educator navigates years of transition

Karol Renfroe knows a thing or two about students. The assistant clinical professor and nursing resource coordinator will retire this year after teaching, mentoring and guiding Auburn Nursing students for nearly two decades. And during that time, she’s collected too many memories to count — most of them centered around meeting students where they are.

“Every year, learners change,” Renfroe said. “I’m a book and highlighter kind of person but today’s students use different learning platforms. They don’t use text in the same way that I did when I was in college. They just don’t. And if we don’t adapt, we won’t meet their needs.”

It’s this mindset that has led her from day one, searching for technology, spaces and curriculum to ensure Auburn’s nurses are exceptionally prepared for all they will encounter in their work. It’s this commitment to nursing education and students that has also led her to give financially to Auburn as a faculty member.

 “I can think of nothing better to invest in than the future of people providing health care,” she said. “And for my family and me, there’s no better place to do that than Auburn.”

The road back to Auburn

Renfroe is a local who grew up in the Auburn community and began her college years at the university. Becoming a nurse was always the plan but since Auburn’s nursing program did not begin until 1979, timing kept her from completing her nursing degree on the Plains. 

She transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1978. After graduation, she built a life in Birmingham — earning a master’s degree, starting a family and in 2007, after a 27-year nursing career, retiring as the director of Obstetric Services for Brookwood Hospital.

That’s when her Auburn story began — again.

Renfroe and her family moved back to Auburn with plans to spend time with aging parents and start a new chapter.

“It was the perfect time to move back,” she said. “My parents both lived here and were developing some health issues and I wanted to be closer to them. Our son was starting first grade so I thought I would mostly be a stay-at-home mom.”

Until she got the call from leaders in what was then Auburn’s School of Nursing.

She discovered what so many others have. No matter how long you’re gone or how far you travel, Auburn is always waiting to welcome you home again.

The path to nursing education

When asked, Renfroe was thrilled to join Auburn’s nursing program in a part-time capacity, supporting clinical needs and student observations at the hospital. Then she received a call from Barbara Witt, the dean at the time.

“A faculty member had to move abruptly so she asked if I would mind helping in the lab — oh, and could I be there at 9 a.m. the next day,” Renfroe recalled. “I showed up in scrubs the next morning and worked with students. At the end of the day, they asked me to come back the next morning, so I did. And it just grew from there.”

She soon became the college’s first nursing resource center coordinator. Her roles and responsibilities grew throughout the years, transitioning from part-time to full-time and from staff to faculty roles so she could best meet the needs of students. Enrollment numbers also grew during that time — from 55 students in 2009 to more than 1,200 graduate and undergraduate students in programs today.

“The real test of any organization is the product you turn out,” she said. “And for us, that’s students. Ours are amazing. Auburn nurses have a stellar reputation, and we measure ourselves by their success.”

With each transition, she built what was needed from often limited resources — classrooms, lab space and a simulation center — with a focus on what would be essential in the future.

“Nurses are resourceful people,” she said. “We just figure out what needs to be done and do it.”

This ability to balance current challenges with forward-thinking innovation made her a key member of the college’s new building committee. It has also made her an authority on the importance of giving in the college.

“I’ve seen the impact generosity has had in the college, whether we needed basic supplies for the lab, extremely technical equipment for the simulation center, support for our students or resources to help our new building come to fruition,” she said. “Donors have made and continue to make a significant difference in the college.”

The new nursing building opened for classes in 2017. The 89,000-square-foot facility is the first building on campus to provide a home for all the college’s classes, simulation labs, active learning centers and offices.

Renfroe knows every plug, data port, closet and space in the building. She brought a student-experience-focused strategy to her role on the building committee, ensuring decisions were made with today’s and tomorrow’s students in mind.

“This building is a great source of pride,” she said. “We were very strategic because you only have so many square feet and you only have so much money.  So we focused on every detail to make the building work for all kinds of student experiences.”

This wasn’t just work for Renfroe. It was a labor of love. She also invested personally in the new building through a gift to name the Dr. and Mrs. Allen D. Cleveland Faculty Office in honor of her parents.

The journey ahead

Nontraditional beginnings and endings have characterized so many milestones in Renfroe’s life. One door is closing as she retires but she’s keeping a window to the college open.

“I’ll be part-time, but I plan to stay on this amazing team that works so hard to create innovative and impactful experiences for students,” she said.

She continues to invest in the college with her time, talents and treasure and that’s a practice she insists won’t change even after retirement.

“I don’t know how any organization really survives without the involvement and generosity of donors, and it certainly can’t thrive without those things,” she said. “As long as I have the ability, I will be here doing whatever I can. Auburn has given so much to me and my family so staying involved and giving to the college and university is just a natural progression.”