Faculty Profile
Wellness is both a passion and a way of life for Carl Ross, Ph.D., CRNP-BC, CNE.
A university professor of nursing, Ross has been taking faculty and students to Nicaragua since 1995. There, through a collaborative agreement with the Universidad Politechnica de Nicaragua, they provide much-needed health care and preventative education to poor residents in urban barrios and rural villages. Ross just completed his 69th trip in November with 10 undergraduate nursing majors.
“These trips are transformational for the students,” says Ross. “They not only get solid clinical experience, they get to change the lives of others and, at the same time, are changed themselves. It’s really a powerful experience all around.”
As a member of RMU’s Wellness Committee, Ross also works to improve the health of faculty and staff. He helped initiate the university’s Weight Watchers program in 2007, and has become one of its success stories, losing a whopping 150 pounds through better eating habits and regular exercise.
“I was always obese,” says Ross, who was once nearly 400 pounds. “I had to change my whole lifestyle,” he says. “Now I wouldn’t think of going to bed without working out. Exercise has truly become a part of my life.”
Ross’s transformation has also had an effect on his students. “I’ve become a role model for many of them,” he says, “especially for the seniors, who knew me when I was heavy.” During his trips to Nicaragua, Ross’s students see how he lives firsthand. “They see my eating habits and how I get up every morning and walk, and they say, ‘I’m going to get up and walk with you.’”
WRITTEN BY VALENTINE J. BRKICH
Student Profile
Along with the textbooks she carries to class, Laura Rentler carries with her a wide, welcoming smile and an inner ambition to reach out to all those in need.
At the age of ten, Rentler lost her father to liver cancer. The Caring Place, an organization that helps grieving families cope with loss, provided comfort to the Rentlers. Wanting to give back to the organization, she started attending special events on its behalf, giving speeches to audiences in the hundreds. That concern for helping others who are grieving continues at RMU, where Rentler has volunteered as a student counselor for students who have lost a parent or loved one. “People may forget what you said or what you did,” she explains, “but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
The marketing major and Mt. Lebanon native comes from a long line of relatives who attended RMU. Besides her studies and her duties as an RA, Rentler is vice president of student government and president of the campus chapter of American Humanics, an organization that prepares undergraduates for the nonprofit sector. She also works in the Office of Student Civic Engagement, coordinating events and matching up student organizations with volunteer opportunities. For instance, she planned a “winter carnival” the men’s lacrosse team held for students at the Bradley Center, a residential program for at-risk children, and she organized a campus leadership summit last year for 250 high school students.
“Laura has really developed in to a leader in the last couple of years, and it’s really been rewarding for me to watch her grow into that,” says Randon Willard, community and volunteer services coordinator for the university.
WRITTEN BY AUBREY DIVITO '08