by Kelly Rogge
As the semester draws to a close, Kansas City Kansas Community College is preparing to lose a long-time dean and faculty member in the Allied Health and Nursing Division.
Shirley Wendel, dean of Allied Health and Nursing, is retiring after 38 years at KCKCC. She was a faculty member for four years before serving as director of nursing for 15 years. For the last 19 years, she has been dean of the division.
“I am now eligible for retirement, so I felt like it was time,” she said on her decision to retire this year. “I will now have more time and freedom to travel and see my grandchildren.”
Prior to coming to KCKCC, Wendel was a staff nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. She also worked in Minneapolis for two years.
Looking back on her time at the community college, she said one of her proudest accomplishments is the number of accreditations her division has received. This includes five for nursing, two for respiratory therapy, two for the physical therapy assistant program and a pending accreditation for the paramedic program.
In addition, two new programs were started during her tenure – the Physical Therapy Assistant program and Respiratory Care, and the college received a Nursing Initiative Grant for $270,000 plus an additional $100,000 each year since 2006 for faculty salaries.
Other accomplishments include the merger and transition of the ATS (now known as KCKCC-TEC) programs of Practical Nursing and Medical Assistant into the division as well as the creation of the hospital simulation lab.
“I think what I have enjoyed most (about being at KCKCC) is being able to move some of the red tape and boulders out of the students’ pathway to education,” Wendel said. “I also have enjoyed seeing the students’ success stories.”
As for what Wendel plans to do with her retirement, travel is on the top of the agenda. After spending a month in Florida for some much-needed rest and relaxation, she has a trip planned to Ireland, Scotland and England and some planned visits with her grandchildren.
But after almost 40 years at KCKCC, there are some things Wendel will miss.
“I will miss the faculty and staff as well as the rewarding work,” she said. “I will also miss the students and the challenges that arise every day.”
Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at Kansas City Kansas Community College.