Dr. Marie Head earns NOC Nursing DAISY Award®

Northern Oklahoma College nursing faculty member Dr. Marie Head was honored with The DAISY Award® for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty at the NOC 2024 Nurses’ Pinning Ceremony Friday, May 3 at NOC Tonkawa.

The award is part of The DAISY Foundation’s mission to express gratitude to nurses with programs that recognize them for the extraordinary, compassionate and skillful care they provide patients and families.

DAISY Award recognitions honor the super-human work nurses do for patients and families every day wherever they practice, in whatever role they serve, and throughout their careers – from Nursing Student through Lifetime Achievement in Nursing.

Head completed her initial nursing degree at NOC in 2007 and continued her education earning a BSN at Kaplan University in 2014, an MSN at Purdue University in 2017 and a DNP at Oklahoma City University in 2020.

She joined the nursing faculty in 2016 and teaches primarily in the skills and simulation practice lab settings.  She has been married for 19 years and has four children and nine grandchildren, seven of whom are boys and two are girls all ranging in age from 1-22 years old.

NOC Nursing Division Chair Dr. Nikole Hicks said, “Dr. Head strives for excellence in herself and in those around her. According to her nomination story, she builds impactful relationships and helps to instill confidence, compassion, and determination in her students by demonstrating these qualities herself. Dr. Head is a testament to the life-changing opportunities at NOC and, as an alumnus, is now giving back to the profession and College she loves so much.”

The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty was established by The DAISY Foundation in memory of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 from Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), an auto-immune disease. The Barnes Family was awestruck by the clinical skills, caring and compassion of the nurses who cared for Patrick. They created this international award to demonstrate appreciation to faculty for their commitment and inspirational influence on their nursing students and to say thank you to nursing faculty everywhere.

NOC Nursing Division Chair Dr. Nikole Hicks said, “This year’s nominations all came from nursing students who wrote about how each nominee has had a life-changing impact through their tenure in Northern Nursing. It is so meaningful when students take the time to share these stories and so important for faculty to know how they are making a difference in students’ lives.”

Blind nominations for the award were submitted with a designated committee reviewing and ranking the nominees based on their commitment to student learning and success, utilizing personal interaction, providing rigorous instruction and innovative technologies, striving to provide high quality, accessible nursing education, and modeling the values of excellence, integrity, resourcefulness, impactful relationships, and compassionate service.

The winner was selected by the The DAISY Award® Selection Committee.

Semi-finalists include Kathy Phillips, Elaine Briggs, and Dr. Yuracy Salazar-Lee.

The winner in 2023 was former NOC faculty member Marriya Wright.

More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.

Northern Oklahoma College, the state’s first public two-year community college, is a multi-campus, land-grant institution that provides high quality, accessible, and affordable educational opportunities and services.

NOC serves nearly 4,000 students through the home campus in Tonkawa, branch in Enid, and NOC/OSU Gateway Program in Stillwater.  Of these students about 80% receive financial aid and/or scholarships. 75% of NOC students complete their degree with zero debt.

The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and offers associate degrees in three general areas: Arts, Science and Applied Science; the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs; and the Accreditation Commission for Education and Nursing.

For more information about Northern Oklahoma College please call (580) 628-6208 or visit the NOC website at www.noc.edu.