A GIFT DESTINED TO EMPOWER The New Dr. Debra Kaczmar Endowment

Mary and Pierre Cousineau have established an endowed fellowship in honor of Dr. Debra Kaczmar to support graduates of the Hartnell College nursing program to obtain a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) specializing in teaching. This support over the two years of a master’s program will come with a commitment from fellowship recipients to teach in the Hartnell College Nursing Program for at least two years after they graduate.

This special announcement was made on September 27, at a private outdoor event on the construction site of the new nursing building. Hartnell College Interim Superintendent/President, Dr. Raúl Rodríguez announced the generous gift from the Cousineaus, who in turn surprised Dr. Debra Kaczmar, Dean of Academic Affairs, ursing and Allied Health Sciences at Hartnell College, by announcing that they have made the gift in her honor.

The goal of the Dr. Debra Kaczmar Fellowship is to attract and retain qualified faculty for the Hartnell College Nursing Program, ideally individuals who are from the Salinas Valley and want to contribute to this community.

“I am humbled by Mary and Pierre’s generosity and commitment to supporting new nurse educators interested in teaching at Hartnell College,” said Dr. Kaczmar.  “Their gift will support Hartnell’s efforts to produce highly competent and caring nurses who live and work in the greater Salinas area.”

Mary Cousineau is the former Assistant Director of Nursing and a current adjunct faculty member at Hartnell College. Pierre, who is retired, shares Mary’s passion for nursing and student success.

When working at Hartnell, Mary embraced the culture of her students and became aware of their struggles to manage school, family life, work, and other responsibilities. She quickly understood the importance of faculty members who share the culture, language, and life experiences of their students and can serve as role models and mentors. She also saw first-hand the difficulty of recruiting and retaining qualified nursing faculty.

“I am proud to recognize Mary and Pierre for their generous and highly strategic gift to establish an endowed fellowship in support of master’s level education of future Hartnell nursing instructors,” said Dr. Rodriguez. “I describe this gift as ‘strategic’ because we realize how challenging it is to hire and retain high-quality nursing instructors due to the fact that professional nurses are in such high demand and at increasingly lucrative salaries. This gift will allow Hartnell Nursing to remain one of the best programs in the nation.”

Two Hartnell College nursing alums, Michael Gibson ’13 and Yoli Cervantes ’17, attended the event and expressed gratitude for the guidance and support they received as students of Mary Cousineau and Dean Kaczmar. Michael is a registered nurse specializing in emergency, trauma, and critical care flight nursing. He works in the emergency department at Natividad Medical Center and as a CALSTAR flight nurse. Yoli is a pediatric nurse at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, where she has completed the medical-surgical training program. They both expressed the importance of this type of scholarship to help students thrive.

The endowment has been matched by the Hartnell College Foundation and will allow one student to complete their master’s program. The Foundation seeks to double the impact of the fellowship, seeking a second match in order to help advance a second student each year.

Mary and Pierre are naming this endowment in honor of Dr. Debra Kaczmar, out of deep respect for Dr. Kaczmar’s contributions to the Hartnell College Nursing Program, in recognition of their shared passion for excellence in nursing, and in appreciation for Deb’s and Mary’s years together as colleagues.

At the event, Mary Cousineau praised Dr. Kazcmar as a “fearless leader,” adding, “She’s willing to tackle problems head-on and go against the status quo within the nursing department, the college, the community, and even at a state level.”