Dale Gibson

Initially, I chose FIU for convenience. It was close to my house. My address was less than a mile away from the campus. That was one of the major contributing factors that allowed me to choose FIU. I was an associate degree nurse for many years, and the professional trend was for all RNs to obtain their bachelor's degrees. It was the pressure of maintaining the appropriate standard for a registered nurse. It took me several years to get the degree. I had opened a healthcare clinic, so I had to attend my job. My classes stretched out over a long period of time, and I had to skip a semester. Professionally, FIU brought me out of the shadows. I tell other nurses who are considering getting a bachelor's degree that when the standard is that a registered nurse should have a bachelor's degree and you don't have one, you don't feel like you're qualified professionally for the advanced opportunities that may be opening up or becoming available. You run under the radar. You don't want to draw too much attention to yourself because you don't have the requirements. I ended up owning a medical clinic, and I had a lot of doctors who worked for me. One time, we were pursuing a grant through the federal government, and they wanted my credentials as an executive director. They said, 'You don't have a bachelor's degree,' and that was very embarrassing at the time. Getting a degree helped me move out of that shadow of professional inadequacy. My greatest takeaway from FIU was the diversity of the school. I felt at home at FIU. Having lived in New York for most of my life, it felt like a place where I was comfortable learning. I loved the diversity and the quality of the professors. They were engaging.