Riley Rosengarten, a full-time instructor in the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, knows well the final steps on the journey to becoming a registered nurse: embracing a commitment and compassion for critical care patients.
Rosengarten joined the Grand Canyon University faculty one year ago after a career in nursing with an emphasis on critical care — emergency departments, trauma centers and intensive care units — all with a focus on adult care.
Now he’s teaching those skills to level 3 nursing students.
Even in bedside roles, he was already teaching.
“I was always drawn to precepting others. I was leading training on new protocols and new policies,” said Rosengarten, who realized in high school his future might be in teaching.
“I took an aptitude test when I was a senior,” he recalled. “The results said I should be either a preacher or a professor.”
His career in critical care assignments endured until his last position with Kaiser Permanente Northwest, managing the oncology unit at their Portland, Oregon, hospital. From there, he joined GCU’s faculty. It wasn’t just a lark; it seemed Arizona was part of God’s plan.
“I had traveled to Arizona on a family vacation,” Rosengarten said. “I was living in the Northwest at the time, and I really enjoyed Arizona. I decided to start looking at jobs down here.”
He found the opening for a critical care nursing instructor at GCU. It seemed ordained because he was making the move to the Valley faster than expected. Within a month of applying, he was in Phoenix and teaching.
“It’s all just very much a feeling like it was meant to be for me to end up here at Grand Canyon University,” Rosengarten said. “I have absolutely loved my students and the faculty.”
He also likes what GCU stands for. In some ways, his role on campus is a combination of his aptitude to be a professor and a preacher.
“I love that (dual role),” Rosengarten said. “I love having the ability to have more of a relationship with students than just an instructor.”
His commitment to office hours and availability opens up a chance for students to discuss his courses, the school and sometimes, he said, “life stuff.” He enjoys that students who just need to talk to someone can come to him and do so. He appreciates being able to minister to students as not only an instructor, but as a person.
It’s that commitment to his students that led to his earning recognition as an outstanding educator with a Daisy Award from the national Daisy Foundation.
“At the end of the day, you only want to be a role model. You want to be somebody who, when you are a teacher, you are in a position of responsibility for that. You know your students are watching you. You kind of live in a fishbowl. How you present yourself is really important to how students will model themselves.”
Riley Rosengarten
“It was a true honor having students nominate me. For me, this is a calling. I feel like I am meant to be here in this position for me and also for the students,” said Rosengarten. “I feel that the students are the ones to be thanked, just because they have had such a positive role in my life.”
The most significant role he sees for himself is nurturing and training the next generation of RNs to fill the growing shortage. He uses his real-life experience to help them gain the tools they need that were not available to him in his early days as a nurse. Guiding him in this role has been his steadfast faith.
His journey involved cross-country service during a tenure as a travel nurse.
“I lived in some bigger cities all up and down the East and the West coasts,” he said. “Through all of that, I have been provided for, and things have just always fallen into place. I really give credit to the One who is in control of it all.”
Nursing school is tough, he said, talking about the pressure students face with life struggles and the demands of becoming an RN. He firmly believes that he was put on the path to teaching the next nursing generation as an instructor and a minister.
“At the end of the day, you only want to be a role model,” said Rosengarten. “You want to be somebody who, when you are a teacher, you are in a position of responsibility for that. You know your students are watching you. You kind of live in a fishbowl. How you present yourself is really important to how students will model themselves.”
GCU senior writer Eric Jay Toll can be reached at [email protected]
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