Alumnae Leadership Award
The Alumnae Leadership Award is being presented to Nancy Rago Durbin, MS, BSN, RN-BC ‘72. Nancy holds an undergraduate degree in nursing and graduate degrees in gerontology and community health/ wellness promotion and has over 48 years of experience in nursing, with a background in critical care, nursing education, nursing administration, faith community nursing, and health ministry.
In 1991, she began her work in the health ministry, serving as a parish nurse for then Lutheran General Health Systems, then as a curriculum coordinator for the International Parish Nurse Resource Center.
In 2000, Nancy was named program director and led the system-wide Faith Community Nurse Ministry/ Faith Community Nurse Support Network for Advocate Health Care, in the Metropolitan Chicago land area.
She has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on the nursing specialty of faith community nursing, health ministry and health, healing, and whole-person health, specifically focusing on the spiritual dimension of health and the professional practice of faith community nursing.
Nancy has been a member of the Health Ministries Association {HMA} since 1996 and is also a member of the American Nurses Association, and the American Society on Aging, She has served as a member of the Health Ministry Association/American Nurses Association Faith Community Nurse Scope & Standards Task Force in 2005 and served as co-chair for the 2012 American Nurses Association/Health Ministries Association Faith Community Nurse Scope and Standards Task Force and served on the 2016-2017 ANA/HMA Task Force.
In 2018, after retiring from her position as Director of Faith Community Nursing for Advocate Health Care, Nancy began a new venture with Durbin Consulting, offering educational expertise in nursing education and faith community nursing. She currently resides in Western Springs with her husband Dan and is the proud mother of son Peter and grandmother of twin boys and is delighted to have her son Peter and his wife, Nora, close by in Riverside, IL. She and her husband Dan are the proud grandparents of twin grandsons, Eric and Ian Durbin.
