Blunt. Outspoken. A dispenser of tough love.
Add intentional listener and you have the main components of Catherine “Cathy” Kefer’s teaching philosophy -- one that can be both intimidating for new nursing students and what they need to succeed.
The proof of the latter is the fact that spring 2025 Yavapai College nursing program graduates chose Cathy to deliver the keynote speech at their pinning ceremony. And, based on poignant student letters written on her behalf, she was named YC’s 2025 GIFT (Great Ideas For Teaching) Fellowship winner, the college’s equivalent of teacher of the year.
“They really did get it. They really did kind of appreciate the tough love mentality they always complained about,” Cathy mused about the GIFT award. “It makes me happy that they appreciated it.”
Unfortunately for YC nursing students, Kefer departed at the end of spring semester, hoping to succeed in a second attempt at semi-retirement. When she first moved to Prescott with her husband, John Godwin, after wrapping up a 46-year nursing career, Cathy was what she termed a “retirement failure.” While working as a vacation fill-in for physicians at a local oncology clinic, she applied for and won an adjunct nursing faculty position at YC two years ago.
She found teaching student nurses very rewarding. “I loved it. I loved the students. Being a nurse for so many years, you kind of know what they’re going through,” she said.
But long days in the classroom, of crisscrossing Northern Arizona to be alongside students at clinical locations, and late-night and weekend correspondence with harried students limited her time with family and her pursuit of favorite pastimes like cooking and gardening.
“I’m not one to ignore it (a text or a phone call from a student). I can’t do that. So you’re working seven days a week. I’m ready for more free time with my husband, my kids and grandkids. It’s time to step back a little bit,” Cathy said, adding, “I’d like to sleep in until maybe 6 a.m.”
Cathy does plan to continue her vacation fill-in stint at the local oncology clinic, the workplace of one of the student nurses who nominated her for the GIFT Fellowship. The student wrote that she is “beyond grateful” for Cathy’s support and inspiration. “I have not only had the privilege to see her as an instructor, but also as a provider. She has inspired me to get my nurse practitioner degree in oncology… I truly don’t think there is an award big enough for all of the effort and dedication she has given our community.”
Another student wrote that Cathy “goes above and beyond for her students” and “uses her personal experiences and scenarios as a nurse to help students remember important information, creating a personable learning environment…”
Cathy’s professional career took her from her hometown of Chicago to Portland, Ore., and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). There she enjoyed a long tenure as an oncology nurse practitioner and full-time faculty member who saw patients and taught new doctors and nurses to put into practice what they had learned in college.
At YC, Cathy’s goal was to give her students a solid foundation to build their futures on. “I always tell them in the very beginning we pour the concrete for you and that concrete tends to cure over the course of while you’re here…” With hard work and lifelong learning, “eventually you get to be that expert, that superstar.”
Cathy poured into her students’ foundations some human touches she believes are key to student success. “I always made sure my door was truly open, and I listened,” she said. “Listening eases their frustration. Just like a patient… they just want to be heard.”
She also brought clinical experience to the classroom – something she said was missing in her nursing education. “You can’t teach without having that bedside background. Students tend to understand more when you give them real-life scenarios.”
While quality, caring teachers are critical to student success in a rigorous program like nursing, so is a supportive environment. And students get that support at YC, Cathy said, citing resources like the food pantry, emergency funds and one-on-one and group tutoring. “They really do go out of their way to help students try to make it.”
Despite all the foundation prep, nursing students “are going to run up against a lot of brick walls,” even some failures, Cathy said. That’s where listening and tough love come in – “and showing them that you’re human as well. Maybe you don’t have the answer right away, but you let them know that if we can find the answer we will.”
For information about YC’s acclaimed nursing program, visit yc.edu/nursing.
Yavapai College operates seven campuses and centers throughout Yavapai County and offers over 100 degrees and certificates, four baccalaureate degrees, student and community services, and cultural events and activities. To learn more about YC, visit www.yc.edu.