DISTINGUISHED ALUM: DR. EVELYN CALVILLO

Dr. Evelyn Calvillo, DNSc ‘91, had two overarching goals for her professional life: addressing cultural differences to improve healthcare in communities and mentoring underserved students in nursing. In both those areas she has been a stellar success, which is why she is a 2016 Distinguished Alumni.

Evelyn began her career as a diploma nurse, working in hospitals in Texas. She realized that to improve her nursing skills and knowledge, she needed to advance her education. She earned a BSN from University of Texas at Galveston, an MSN from Loma Linda and ultimately was accepted into the first nursing doctoral class at UCLA. In 1991, she was one of the first four to graduate from the program and was the first Hispanic in California to earn a doctorate in nursing.

She started teaching nursing in 1986 at Loma Linda, then Chapman University and finally at Cal State LA, where she taught from 1990 to 2013. From the beginning of her teaching career, she has been interested in student issues and an advocate for student rights and always wanted learning to be useful as well as pleasurable. Through her career, she mentored many students, including Giovanni Hernandez, who nominated her for this award.

“Although she has contributed so much to nursing and is the most accomplished nurse I know, this is not why I’m nominating her; it is due to her selfless commitment to the development of nursing students. I’m living proof of her amazing ability to mentor and motivate. Dr. Calvillo has been a true inspiration in my life and the reason why I completed nursing school; moreover, the reason why I completed an MSN at UCLA. What I admire the most about her is that she believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.”

Dr. Calvillo had a strong research career trajectory focused on the health beliefs and lifestyle changes of Mexicans, Mexican Americans and other Hispanics with Type II diabetes and leukemia. Her most notable study was “Predictors of successful Hispanics diabetes management” funded by the NIH. She served as a consultant on the development of the healthcare delivery system focused on a diverse Medi-Cal population that was launched by LA Care Health Plan and was a founding member of the National Association of Hispanic Nursing, Orange County Chapter.

She was a strong advocate for nurses to have the ability to provide culturally appropriate and sensitive care. Her expertise in cultural competency led to an invitation by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to co-chair the development of faculty nursing resources to teach cultural competence to bachelor’s and master’s students. These toolkits are available today on the AACN website.

She has been published in many journals including Journal of Transcultural Nursing, Hispanic Voices, Pediatrics, Journal of College Students Development and Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Her most gratifying activities were the various nursing and university projects for retention and mentorship of underserved students in nursing and other academic programs. Her impact was acknowledged in 1997, when she received “Outstanding Professor of the Year Award” at CSULA. She is most proud of the recognition of her students.

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