Vanguard University

This is Julia Wilson. She is the Chair of the Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Her name sounds familiar because she is married to Lewis Wilson, otherwise known as Lew, who is Dean Mike Wilson's older brother by five years. She is also the sister-in-law of Professor Greg Austring. When she has free time, she enjoys cooking and trying out new recipes. One of her favorite dishes to make is lasagna. She claims to make one of the best lasagnas and also has a secret recipe for chocolate chip cookies. 

The eldest of five siblings, Julia was born in Minnesota where she attended North Central University for two and a half years before transferring to Vanguard University. She moved out with a friend to experience some of California’s sunny beaches during a particularly chilly Minnesota winter.  

"I had a friend at North Central who was a cheerleader at Vanguard the previous year, who told me about the sun and warm weather in January. We were shivering in the cold Minnesota ‘frozen tundra’ at the time and she talked me into transferring to Vanguard. I took a marine biology class which had us snorkeling in Catalina Island, and a physical education course where the final was backpacking and camping in the Sierras. After that, I knew I wanted to come back and move permanently to beautiful California." 

After taking a few classes at Vanguard, Julia went back to Minnesota for 10 months to work two jobs to help earn enough of an income to move to California. She eventually studied at Golden West College where she finished her associate degree as a registered nurse and started working at Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach. She later went on to complete her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

"After working at Hoag, I used to love going running at night. I was living in the Monticello townhomes across the street from Vanguard, and my future husband, Lew, was living a few doors down. I did not want to run by myself, so I asked him if he wanted to run with me. We would run around the on-campus track, sometimes up to four miles, and then we would go to his house to talk.”

They dated for four years before getting married at Newport Mesa Church and for their honeymoon, they drove up the coast to Northern California. Julia eventually finished her master’s degree, nurse practitioner certification and later received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice in 2014.  

"I'm a nurse practitioner and I love this program because I can bring real-world experience to the classroom. I love nursing because I enjoy learning about the body. I tell my students when you walk into a room with a patient, it's kind of like being a medical detective as the nurse should know what symptoms to watch for and how to keep patients safe. I like the learning aspect and being able to interact with patients. The science and relational aspect is what I enjoy about teaching. It's about being able to connect." 

Today, Julia spends her time teaching and has recently been enjoying developing virtual escape rooms of case studies for her students to experience in class.

Thank you Julia for teaching and mentoring the next generation of nurses as they prepare to serve  our community.