After a career in health services that spanned nearly four decades, Director of Student Health Services Jean Grant retired in October.
Grant said she decided to retire because her daughter is going to have a baby soon and she wants to be around to help out. Her husband, President of Student Affairs Joe Grant, is not retiring.
When Grant first started at Oswego State in 1973 she was a registered nurse and in 1981 she went back to school to become a nurse practitioner. In 1987 Grant began doing the administrative tasks and supervising of the medical staff. A few years after that, she then became director of Student Health Services and ran the department at Mary Walker Health Center while supervising the Lifestyles Center.
One of Grant’s main goals is to inform and educate the students about potential health dangers and protect them from making harmful mistakes. The students’ well being was, and still is, in her priorities.
"I have always loved working with students," Grant said. "There is a joy that comes from being around young people and I learn a lot. It kept me in the loop when it came time for my kids to grow up."
Grant said one of the most challenging tasks she had to face over the years was persuading the college that they needed a nurse practitioner, which was a brand new role in the 1970s.
"It was quite challenging to sell that role to the college, the students and the parents," Grant said. "At the same time we were trying to get the state of New York to legalize our position."
Grant plans on staying involved at Oswego State to help when Mary Walker is short staffed.
"On the days that someone is missing they call me up and invite mw to come back and see students," Grant said. "It works out pretty well because our walk-in time is usually very busy and then we do appointments for the rest of the day so it’s really helpful to have a person here who can fill in the shoes of someone who is out."
So far in her retirement, Grant has been preparing for the birth of her grandchild and just got back from a two week tour of Ireland with her husband.
