Outstanding Alumni - 2008
Linda Erceg
Bemidji State University Graduate 1988
After teaching physical education, health and psychology at the high school level, Linda Erceg's career took a turn when she returned to school and earned a degree in nursing from Bemidji State. She later went on to earn a master's degree in nursing from the University of North Dakota. She has been in the Bemidji area working at the Concordia Language Villages of Concordia College since 1981, initially as health and safety coordinator but now as associate director for health and risk management. There, she has administrative responsibilities for health services and risk management for programs at the Language Villages impacting more than 10,000 participants and 1,000 staff members each year. Erceg's work at Concordia has essentially pioneered the field of camp nursing, coauthoring a book which is widely considered to be the definitive text for the specialty and founding the Association of Camp Nurses, now an international organization. She is widely published in the field of camp nursing and associated with the Healthy Camps research. Erceg has been an adjunct faculty member at Bemidji State since 1997, typically teaching the senior practicum, which serves as the capstone experience for bachelor of science in nursing candidates. She is also one of a limited number of BSU nursing alumni to receive the department's Professional Nursing Award. Ms. Erceg and her late husband, David, have a grown daughter, Laura. Ms. Erceg makes her home in Bemidji.