Behrens Honored: WNA Lifetime Achievement Award

 

Mary L. Behrens, BSN, MSN, RN, FNP-BC (MS FNP '98)

----------

On September 25, 2015, the Wyoming Nurses Association (WNA) presented their Lifetime Achievement Award to Mary Behrens of Casper.

Behrens is a graduate of the UW School of Nursing's MS Family Nurse Practitioner Program (1998), and currently sits on the school's development board, "Friends of the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing."

A letter from Wyoming Senator John Barrasso pays tribute to Behrens in the Congressional Record Online at https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2015/9/22/senate-section/article/S6891-2. In the text, Barrasso lauds Behrens as "an innovator, leader, and mentor for many nurses in Wyoming, across the nation and around the world."  Here is a listing of some of her accomplishments:

• Active on the American Nurses Association board

• Active on the UW Friends of Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing development board

• One of only three Wyoming nurses nationally recognized as a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, FAANP

• Member of the 2005 American delegation to the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland (where she testified on the national nursing shortage)

• Involvement with the Friendship Bridge Humanitarian Teaching Project in Vietnam (".Credited with helping to establish an education pathway for nurses in Vietnam," says Barrasso.)

• Civic service as mayor of Casper

• Served as Natrona County Commissioner

• Served as representative in the Wyoming State Legislature

• Received American Academy of Nurse Practitioners "International Humanitarian Award - Long-term focus" in 2012

• Received the Nurse Practitioner of the Year award for Wyoming in 2012

Barrasso says, "Mary's extensive activity in shaping public policy truly stands alone, as few people possess such a wide breadth of policy knowledge, leadership skills, and passion for the nursing profession."

Congratulations, Mary Behrens! 

----------