Recent college graduate Ali Dietz was working in IT with a local employer in 2020 when she realized she didn’t want to sit at a desk in front of a screen for nine hours a day. Luckily, an opening for a simulation lab technician specialist at Viterbo caught her eye.

Today, Dietz is the simulation coordinator for the university’s College of Nursing and Health. It’s a position that allows her to use both her technological and people skills.

“I absolutely love it,” said Dietz, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. “It’s very rewarding working with students, and I’m not confined to a desk. I like that every day is different, and we all work well together as a team.”

The Viterbo nursing center has four simulation labs equipped with state-of-the-art automated mannequins that provide students with very realistic patient care experiences in the areas of critical care/medical surgical, adult health, maternal/newborn, and pediatrics. As simulation coordinator, Dietz performs maintenance and repair, tech support, scheduling, and often serves as an assistant during simulations. She also teaches a CPR class and is in charge of supplies for undergraduate nursing students.

Coming from a mathematics and IT background, Dietz said she had a good deal to learn about health care when she began at Viterbo. She credits the nursing faculty and administration for their kindness, mentorship, and willingness to answer her many questions in bringing her up to speed.

When she isn’t busy helping to educate nursing students, Dietz enjoys spending time with her “fur babies” (two cats and a dog,) walking, and running. She also began this semester as a part time student in the Viterbo undergraduate engineering program.

“Eventually I’d love to go into biomedical engineering and build prosthetics,” she said. “That’s a long way off, however. I’m very happy at Viterbo.”