Former faculty member and department chair Mary Bliesmer donates $30,000 to School of Nursing

When Mary Bliesmer left Minnesota State University, Mankato after serving on the faculty for 33 years, she definitely recognized that it had left an impression on her. 

“Oh, well, I guess I would call it pretty much my second home,” she says. “So it’s been a long-term relationship.” 

After graduating from the University with a nursing degree in 1969, she worked for five years in Iowa before returning to Mankato for a job on the teaching faculty. Along the way she earned a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in nursing science. All told, Bliesmer spent 33 years at Minnesota State Mankato, a time frame that included a stint as chair of the nursing department. 

She retired 13 years ago. But a piece of her heart, she says, never left. 

Because she feels strongly about the nursing profession and the great work being done at the School of Nursing, Bliesmer decided the time was right to make a substantial donation to the program. 

Bliesmer has agreed to donate $30,000. The gift will be tied to the program’s ongoing involvement in the Midwest Nursing Research Society, which holds a conference each year and invites nursing programs around the region to be sponsors. Because of the university’s size, sponsorship—which gives the program great exposure and helps in faculty recruitment—costs $10,000. Bliesmer’s gift will cover sponsorship for the next three years. 

Bliesmer and her husband, Barry, both earned degrees from Minnesota State Mankato. When Barry died three years ago, Mary donated to the department from which he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees: biology.  

After seeing the impact of that donation, which established an endowment to fund student projects and research, Bliesmer decided the time was now right to make a donation to the program she had given so much time and energy to. 

“I knew that the next time I would give anything, it would be to the School of Nursing,” she says. “And I decided that I would help fund their inclusion in this conference for the next three years so they know ahead of time that it’s covered.” 

Bliesmer says she gives to the nursing program because it’s thriving, and she urges others to do the same. She says a friend told her a story once about how he stopped giving to another university. 

“He lives in another state where it doesn't seem like the university he was thinking about giving funds to is really thriving like Minnesota State Mankato, and that’s what I see, too,” she says. “The School of Nursing has been in existence for 70 years, and it’s just continued to grow. It's one of the thriving programs at Minnesota State Mankato.”