BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Dr. Aliria Muñoz Rascón ’07 joined fellow Hartwick College alumnus Robert Mele ’14 in earning the 2025 Hartwick Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award.
A release by Hartwick notes, “the duo each made significant contributions to the nursing profession through clinical excellence, academic leadership and global engagement. Their careers demonstrate the core values of Hartwick’s nursing program and its mission to prepare professionals for a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.
Kim Smith, associate professor and chair of Hartwick’s School of Nursing, praised the achievements of this year’s honorees. “Hartwick nursing alumni continue to make an incredible impact across the healthcare system,” said Smith.
Rascón, PhD, is a clinical associate professor at Arizona State University’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, earned her bachelor of science in nursing from Hartwick in 2007, where she also minored in Spanish and competed on the school’s varsity women’s water polo team.
A native of South Salt Lake, Utah, who started playing water polo at the age of 13, she helped Hartwick compile an 111-40 record – including Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championships in 2004 (33-10), 2006 (28-11) and 2007 (32-10) – during the period of 2004-to-2007. Further, Hartwick finished Fourth (2004), Sixth (2006) and Seventh (2007) at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship.
She obtained a master of science in nursing education from Arizona State University in 2012 and completed her PhD in nursing at the University of Arizona in 2019. Her doctoral research focused on Type 2 diabetes management among Mexican American grandmothers who serve as caregivers.
Rascón has over a decade of clinical nursing experience in oncology, medical-surgical, telemetry, medical intensive care unit (ICU) and trauma ICU settings. She has practiced in various international locations, including Jamaica, Mexico, Peru and the Solomon Islands, as well as in a mobile health clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. Since joining Arizona State University in 2013, Rascón has taught more than 18 different courses across undergraduate and graduate programs using didactic, clinical, experiential, hybrid, online and study abroad formats. Now as a nurse scientist, she conducts NIH-funded research to advance diabetes prevention using community-based implementation science approaches.
Thinking back on her own time at Hartwick, Rascón reflected on today’s nursing students. “I thought to myself—maybe there are students in Hartwick’s nursing program now who are just like I was—student-athletes, children of immigrants, no health professionals in their family, not sure of where they will go—but ready to dive in. I hope my story and my nonlinear and unpredictable trajectory empower nursing students to advance in their careers and embrace the strengths of unpredictability.”
The names of Rascón and Mele will be added to a permanent plaque displayed in the School of Nursing suite in Hartwick’s Smith Hall, commemorating their achievements alongside past recipients of the Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award. The 2025 awards were announced in celebration of National Nurses Week, held from May 6–12, to honor the vital contributions of nurses across the country.
Information courtesy Hartwick College
