Dr. Jennifer Ohlendorf, Nurs '00, Grad '14, is vice chair of the University Academic Senate and an associate professor of nursing who first came to Marquette's campus as an undergraduate student and whose Jesuit education prepared her for a career of leadership and advocacy in her role as a labor and delivery nurse. She later completed graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin and then returned to Marquette for Ph.D. studies. Ohlendorf's research is aimed at creating tools that nurses can use to leverage their health promotion skills and act as health coaches for women to adopt and sustain physical activity and healthy eating behaviors during life transitions. She has published the CoaCH Model to guide nurses to do this coaching work with pregnant and postpartum people, so that the perinatal year serves as a teachable moment during which people develop lifelong habits.

Ohlendorf has served many roles at Marquette over the years and is dedicated above all to intentional shared governance that supports the transformative work we do with students on this campus, both in and out of the classroom.