Sometimes other people affect our lives in ways even they don't realize. Such is the case for Beverly Folkedahl, whose nursing career has been influenced by several others in ways they probably never knew.

It starts with her mother, who always wanted to be a nurse but couldn't because she was the last of six children raised during and after the Great Depression.

Then, there was her high school teacher, Sister Mary Rose Paul.

"She said if I wanted to achieve anything other than the traditional role in nursing, I'd need the educational advantage I would get by attending the UI College of Nursing. She said it didn't matter that Iowa was not a Catholic school, I needed to do what was best for me."

Folkedahl took the advice, got her nursing degree from UI, and launched her career. She went on to become a national expert in wound and ostomy patient care, a specialty for which she is nationally certified, as well as a champion for bariatric patients.

In recognition of her exemplary career, Folkedahl received the first Nursing Excellence in Clinical Education Award (nurse leader category), given by the Department of Nursing Services and Patient Care and the UI College of Nursing.

"Very few careers give you the most intimate access to people's lives like nursing does," she says. "You can generally see the results in what you do and that's very rewarding."