Learning and legacy: Professor Lynne Kuhl retires

In her sixth year of teaching, Professor Lynne Kuhl has made the decision to retire from Viterbo University’s School of Nursing. Throughout her adult life, Kuhl has had many careers. From a jewelry store manager to working in customer service at United Airlines, her jobs spanned multiple industries before she settled on nursing. Although she came from a long line of nurses, Kuhl did not seriously consider going into nursing until the 1980s, during the AIDS crisis. She saw several of her associates at United Airlines personally affected by the virus, and she wanted to do something to help. In 2001, Kuhl went back to school to get her nursing degree, becoming an RN. She worked as an ICU nurse while completing her Masters degree and post-Masters certificates.  

During her nursing career, Kuhl worked in a level 1 trauma center in Chicago, where she did onboarding and worked as an educator on the unit. A person of faith, her question was always, “What’s next?” She decided she wanted to end her career teaching, and with her background in management and her teaching experience in her unit in Chicago, Kuhl was a good candidate to become a professor of nursing.  

When asked what attracted her to Viterbo, Kuhl said she felt a “calling” to be at Viterbo. The Franciscan values and sisters were an influential part of her decision to apply and ultimately accept a job in the School of Nursing. She also loves that there are opportunities at Viterbo to be a part of multiple disciplines, and she appreciates the liberal arts approach the school takes to learning. 

Kuhl herself is a person of many talents; she regularly works in the artistic mediums of clay, painting, and woodburning and has had some of her woodburning pieces featured in Impact magazine. She also loves to learn new things, garden, and sew, and is hoping to return to help with theatrical productions at Viterbo.  

In her retirement, she will be continuing work on an innovative textbook she has been developing and has been invited to speak at conferences. She is also hoping to spend time in Australia with her husband and oldest daughter. During her time in Australia, Kuhl wants to use her nursing experience to help at-risk Aboriginal youth.  

Kuhl expressed that her favorite part of teaching at Viterbo has been watching students develop their skills and realize their calling in life. She appreciates watching first-year students grow in the program and learns with them every day. She adores spending time with her students and getting to know each of them. She hopes that each student takes time in college to figure out who they are, as she believes that personal growth in undergraduate is incredibly important. Kuhl stated that if she could leave one gift for the students, it would be the advice to “not be afraid to be who you are and who you were created to be.”