Caitlin Capodilupo

Faculty

As a high school graduate in 1982, Caitlin Capodilupo wanted to work as a nurse and live in a big city. Though she ended up accomplishing both these goals, she then went on to spend much of her career in a much smaller community. Today, Caitlin is a full-time tenured nursing instructor at Bay College.

After graduating from North Branch High School, Caitlin went straight to the University of Detroit Mercy (then known as Mercy College of Detroit) to pursue a nursing degree. According to Caitlin, her interest in nursing was sparked by a neighbor who drove to Flint every evening to work as a nurse during the night shift.

“I always thought that was sort of a glamorous life,” she said.

Even so, it took a while for Caitlin to think about nursing as a potential career—initially, she hoped to become either a doctor or a vet. Her mother encouraged her to consider nursing in her senior year of high school; after doing some research, she decided that this field would be a good fit for her.

Caitlin was also interested in living in a larger community than the small farming town she was raised in.

“North Branch was a rural town—I always wanted to go to the big city. I went to school in Detroit and lived on campus, and I was able to get a job as a nurse extern while I was studying,” she said.

After graduating from college in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, Caitlin found work at Henry Ford Hospital in a cardiac step-down unit. While she considered staying there for a while, she got engaged and moved to Marquette instead. There, she worked at Marquette Hospital (later renamed to UP Health System – Marquette).

While living in Marquette, Caitlin decided to go back to school to get her master’s degree. She earned her master’s degree in nursing with a focus in adult health at Northern Michigan University in 1993. After that, she taught medical-surgical nursing clinics at NMU.

At this point in her life, Caitlin and her spouse started building a family. Because of that, Caitlin chose to become a stay-at-home mom for a while and didn’t work or teach for nearly a decade.

“In the interim, my spouse at the time found a job in Escanaba. We ended up moving from Marquette to this area then,” she said.

Eventually, Caitlin went back to work in a per diem position at OSF St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group. Shortly after that, she started working in another capacity.

“In 2001, Bay’s Dean of Nursing - Patti Henning, at the time - called me up and said ‘Are you ready to go back to work? We have an interim one-year teaching job available.’ I took the job, and I’ve been here ever since,” she said.

At Bay, Caitlin started out by teaching medical-surgical nursing classes.

“Basically, that’s the content I’ve continued to enjoy teaching for the last couple decades here,” she said.

Since she has been involved with the nursing field for decades, she is able to give her students a first-hand look at how patient safety and other elements of the nursing field have improved over the years.

“I can offer my students a historical perspective on nursing. Things in the 1980s were nothing like they are now,” Caitlin said.

One of Caitlin’s favorite things about her job is seeing how quickly her students can grasp nursing-related concepts - and become more confident in the process. She also enjoys knowing that her former students are doing good work at medical facilities in the area.

“To know I was one little part of that gives me a lot of satisfaction,” she said.

Recently, Caitlin decided to work towards the highest nursing degree available to her - a doctor of nursing practice degree. She earned this degree from Wesleyan University in 2019 while continuing to teach at Bay. At the same time, she was also employed at OSF St. Francis in a per diem role.

“I don’t know how I did it - by the grace of God,” she said.

“Everybody asks me ‘how much longer are you going to teach?’ I honestly don’t know - as long as I can put up with the demands of the job and do it well, I’ll keep going until I can’t anymore,” she said.

She noted that Bay’s nursing department signed a deal with Saginaw Valley State University earlier this year. That agreement will allow students to earn bachelor’s degrees in nursing through SVSU while staying on Bay’s campus.

“I think It would be really cool to potentially teach in that program on campus as an adjunct,” she said.

Caitlin also said she appreciates how Bay’s nursing program and other departments help people in Escanaba and beyond build futures they can count on.

“We’re all about helping students wherever they’re at. Bay College changes lives, and I’ve seen it time and time again in my students,” she said.