LEWISTON — Maine College of Health Professions President Susan Baltrus has retired after 35 years of service as a nursing educator at Central Maine Medical Center.
Baltrus joined the CMMC School of Nursing faculty in 1979. She served as associate director of the nursing program from 1999 to 2009, when she was appointed director of the nursing program. In 2010 she was named the president of CMMC’s entire health professions education program. The college was recently renamed the Maine College of Health Professions to better reflect the organization’s full scope of educational programming.
In addition to her career as a nursing educator, Baltrus worked for 10 years in nursing management at Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway. She also worked for two years as a staff nurse at Togus Veterans Administration Hospital in Togus.
A graduate of the Central Maine General Hospital School of Nursing, Baltrus went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing and business from St. Joseph’s College in Windham. In 1992, she was awarded a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Southern Maine in Portland.
In 2003 she was named Educator of the Year by the Maine Council of Associate Degree Nursing Programs.
She continues to serve as a member of the Accreditation Commission in Nursing Education Board of Commissioners, a group that sets accreditation standards and administrative policies, and conducts site visits. She has served as a member of the CMMC Ethics Committee. She represents nursing education on the Maine State Board of Nursing, and is a member of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. She is a former item reviewer for the National Council Licensure Examination, the testing service for licensing nurses in the United States. She has served as president and vice president of the Maine Association of Associate Degree Nursing Programs.
Her record of community service includes eight years with the Rape Crisis Hotline and nine years as a March of Dimes Walkathon team captain.
Baltrus lives in Lewiston and has two grown children.
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- Susan Baltrus
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