The destination of choice

Mary Hanson-Zalot, Ed.D., MSN, RN, CNE, has built a career based on equipping students with the skills to become the best generation of nurses. She plans to continue that as La Salle University's Chair of Undergraduate Nursing.

Hanson-Zalot's goal is to contribute to the School of Nursing and Health Sciences so that it continues to become a destination that stands out among all the institutions in the geographical area, and a place where students want to go and parents want to send their children.

Every time Mary Hanson-Zalot, Ed.D., MSN, RN, CNE, steps in front of a class of nursing students, her aim is to make them a better nurse than she was.

"The whole goal of nursing education is to have that new group of nurses become better clinicians than the faculty ever were," La Salle University's new chair of undergraduate nursing said. "And they just knock it out of the park and that is so much fun to watch."

Seeing her students succeed is one of her favorite things about being an educator, and it goes hand in hand with another: being part of the group that curates their knowledge base.

Each faculty member that students learn from has a different specialty and area of expertise, she believes, and it's important to take something from all of them.

"I say learn from them and make it your own," Hanson-Zalot said. "It's like a tapestry and that becomes who you are."

That's something she has done throughout her career as a nurse and educator.

Hanson-Zalot grew up the youngest of four children with three older brothers in Elkins Park, Pa., where she still lives today, cooking Sunday dinner for her family every week in the same house that she grew up in.

During her high school years, she wanted to be an attorney but wasn't sure how she could access the education to do that. She initially went to nursing school with the intention of working in the field for a few years while she paid her way through law school.

After graduating from Holy Family University, she went straight into a job at a hospital in Center City, Philadelphia, saving money and beginning to pay her own way through law classes at the same time. However, as she progressed through her course load, Hanson-Zalot started to feel that they weren't as good of a fit for her as she thought.

At the same time as she was coming to this realization, Hanson-Zalot also transferred to a new hospital in the suburbs. It was here that the trajectory of her nursing career changed.

This was the first place that she experienced caring for both trauma victims and oncology patients as she flipped between two units: a step-down unit, the ward that patients go to between their time in intensive care and general wards, and a surgical trauma unit as a day/night rotating staff nurse.

"Once I saw patients with side-effects from cancer management protocols coming into the step-down unit I was hooked," she said. "I loved working with the patients and their families and thought 'this is where I belong.'"

For the rest of her time as a bedside nurse, Hanson-Zalot switched between oncology and trauma nursing, and never had another job she didn't love, she said.

It was also at this hospital that Hanson-Zalot ventured into nursing education, both her own and others.

When a nursing professor brought a group of students to the step-down unit and shared that her background was in psychiatric mental health nursing, Hanson-Zalot jumped at the opportunity to share her passion with these nurses in training, getting her first taste of teaching.

"I thought it was such fun!" she said.

During that time, Hanson-Zalot was also inspired by a professor she was working with on her master's thesis at Gwynedd Mercy University, an institution she chose because of their oncology concentration.

"He was so helpful to me, guiding me step-by-step through my thesis on nursing knowledge and attitudes of caring for patients with HIV in the mid-1980s. He encouraged and coached me and I thought I want to be like him; I want to be able to do that for students in the future," she said.

Another factor of her master's program that contributed to her future as a teacher was the opportunity she had to work at Fox Chase Cancer Center for a year as a graduate student, a place where she was later able to take her own students.

"I had wonderful role models, and subsequent opportunities kept popping up," Hanson-Zalot said, describing what first drew her to becoming an educator.

And with that, her teaching career began, first in a diploma program where she was a critical care instructor and eventually settling at Jefferson College of Nursing, where she held several leadership positions, before retiring as a professor emerita in June 2026.

While there, Hanson-Zalot added two more credentials to her resume, a post-master's certificate in nursing education from Thomas Jefferson University and her Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administrative Leadership from Widener University.

"It's been a great career because it doesn't feel like work," Hanson-Zalot said.

Shortly after retiring, she received a call from a former Jefferson colleague, Beth Ann Swan, Ph.D., RN, CHSE, FAAN, ANEF, dean of La Salle University's School of Nursing and Health Sciences, who wanted to see if Hanson-Zalot would be interested in coming to 20^th and Olney.

The students had a lot to do with her decision to return to the school.

"There's something magical about La Salle students. They come into the program like bubbles. You know how you look at a soap bubble and all the colors are so bright and shiny? That's a La Salle student today. They are just so excited about their opportunity to be at La Salle to learn nursing," Hanson-Zalot said. "So, it wasn't a hard choice. I came back to see where I can help."

She joined the School of Nursing and Health Sciences in July 2026 as Chair of Undergraduate Nursing. It wasn't her first exposure to La Salle, though. Previously, from July 2017 to January 2019, she also held the role of La Salle's Chair of Undergraduate Nursing, between positions at Jefferson. Her brother also graduated from the University's Psychology Program.

Her first few weeks back at St. Benilde have been busy, she said, but incredibly rewarding and reflective of the culture that La Salle cultivates.

"The people here are just so kind, gracious, and helpful. They are highly receptive to ideas, brainstorming and creativity," she said. "Everyone's very kind, everyone wants to help, it's a very nice environment to be in."

As she settles back in at La Salle, Hanson-Zalot is focused on the curriculum and the student experience in undergraduate nursing.

"I'm most excited about the opportunity to bring new ideas into the undergraduate curriculum and help support the faculty as they seek to engage students and help them build confidence in different areas," she said. "That for me is very energizing."

With what she describes as a "deep appreciation" for what being a student involves, Hanson-Zalot also intends to help make it more manageable for Explorers.

"I hope to make the time they spend with us in the Nursing Program very intentional and very goal-directed so that they're really getting the education that they need to be a successful nurse," she said.

Ultimately, her goal is to contribute to the School of Nursing and Health Sciences so that it continues to become a destination that stands out among all the institutions in the geographical area, and a place where students want to go and parents want to send their children.

"I think the program is rock solid. I think Dean Swan is a very good, very strong leader. I think the faculty are incredibly talented; they are subject matter experts in many ways. ," she said.

Throughout her work, one thing remains particularly special to Hanson-Zalot as a nursing educator: watching her students learn and realize how much they know.

"You put information in front of them and once they realize they have the power and knowledge to influence patient outcomes, that's like magic," she said.

-Naomi Thomas