Milissa Volino, PhD, RN,CNE

BIO I graduated in 1993 with a BSN from Mansfield University and began my career as a nurse on a cardiac stepdown unit. It was on this unit where I discovered that I loved patient education. I worked with patients during and after adverse cardiac events and was always inspired by their resiliency. In 1998 I earned a MSN from Syracuse University and certification as an adult nurse practitioner. It was at this time that I also gave birth to very premature twins. This life event changed my career course and resulted in me taking some time to care for my children. Ultimately, my past positive experience in patient education and new time constraints of a growing family led to me pursuing teaching as an adjunct faculty member. By 2002 I had accepted a tenure track position at Elmira College teaching medical-surgical and critical care nursing courses. I then went on to pursue my PhD in nursing and graduated in 2014. I was honored by Elmira College to receive the Excellence in Teaching award in 2016 and the Catherine McGraw Rock Award in 2019. I am currently the Director of Nurse Education at Elmira College, but I still teach a few courses a year. I still hold true to my educational beliefs that we are all here in life to learn from each other. My research interests include chronic illness, health behavior change, stress management, nursing licensure success, and more recently resilience in college students. In addition to my role at the College I am married with four adult children. I am also an avid gardener and animal lover.