Creating Exceptional Professionals through Intimate Community

For Valparaiso University alumnus Connor Carmichael ’20, ’21 MHA, being part of a tight-knit community of students and professors pushed him to excel and gave him the tools he needed to take on vital supply chain management challenges in the health care system. Today, just months after obtaining his MHA, Connor is continuing to help shape health care as a consultant for BKD LLP, an accounting and advisory firm that provides services to health care workers.

“I do supply chain analysis as well as monitoring nationwide supply coordination,” Connor explains. “I’m always trying to find where medical facilities can save money.”

While a resident of Fairbanks, Alaska, Connor became interested in Valpo due to the University’s excellent relationship with the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program at the University of Notre Dame, which provided him with a four-year Minuteman scholarship on top of the presidential scholarship he was given by Valpo. Connor was heavily involved in the Army ROTC program, taking on the role of transportation officer to arrange the weekly trips to and from the primary ROTC office at Notre Dame.

Connor began his career at Valpo with the physician assistant program but quickly found that his real passion within the medical community was in health care leadership, a field that requires strong decision-making, responsibility, and a passion for leading and coaching others. Thanks to the University’s dedication to creating an intimate learning environment, Connor was able to earn a bachelor of science in that field while making student-mentor connections that have survived beyond graduation and into his professional life.

“All of my classes were 15–20 people for one professor, which really helped with building a relationship with them,” Connor says. “I still have five of my professors on my cell phone. It’s something you can’t get from a lot of other schools.”

Another major way in which the College of Nursing and Health Professions pushed Connor was exposing him to working in a diverse community of interests and experiences. During each year’s final projects, Connor would be put in a position to work directly with fellow students pursuing their degrees in nursing, public health, health science, and other programs, giving him critical insight into working within a professional setting.

“Being able to work in groups and as a team, especially in the College of Nursing and Health Professions, we learn to work together,” Connor says. “In the real world, administrators are going to be working with doctors, nurses, and physician assistants. Being able to learn how to talk to one another effectively helps graduates move forward in the real world.”

In addition to being in the 4+1 B.S. HCL/M.S. MHA track, as well as the Army ROTC involvement, Conner completed minors in chemistry, biology, and military science. He was also a member of the Chemistry Club.

While an undergraduate, Connor was able to pursue an internship with Riverside Medical Center that gave him real-world experience in taking on the responsibilities of a health care professional. Notable tasks Connor took on during his internship included putting together an operation summary for the facility and the pro-forma documentation for the hiring of a new nurse practitioner.

“I had to work out the costs of hiring for the position as well as the potential revenue it could bring in,” Connor explains.

Students in the health care leadership program have the opportunity to begin early-entry graduate studies during their senior year, allowing them to earn a master of health administration (MHA) with only one additional year of study, a program Connor was eager to take advantage of. While pursuing his master’s, he served as an operations assistant with Community Care Network Inc. (CCNI), an organization of physicians, nurses, and health care professionals working in Northwest Indiana.

For Conner, work and classes were not enough to truly kickstart his ideal career, so he elected to take on additional intern duties. In this role, Connor worked on purchasing materials, analyzing the supply chain, and developing proposals to take his organization to the next level.

Looking back at his time at Valpo Connor recalled the relationships he had forged during his time as a student in the College of Nursing and Health Professions.

“Everyone there fosters an environment of teamwork, of having fun, and of getting the job done.”