A Passion for Service

How does someone who has devoted her life and career to service take it to the next level? Kelly Bowman, a 2003 nursing graduate, decided that returning to UT Arlington to earn her master’s degree in nursing was the way to go. She’s enrolled in the nurse practitioner program, anticipating earning her degree in summer 2016.

It was almost a foregone conclusion after 10 years as a Navy nurse. She deployed to Iraq for seven months as a surgical trauma nurse, where she supported Marines in the Battle of Fallujah. Stateside, Bowman treated trauma patients at the National Naval Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and served on a select team that functioned as an extension of the White House Medical Unit.

“It is a motivating feeling to contribute to an organization that is bigger than you,” she says. “Having lived through war and being constantly surrounded by trauma patients, trauma has become my passion. I know I can do more for my patients and make a bigger impact as a practitioner.”