Her Story
About Ashley
Ashley Underwood serves as Assistant Professor and Simulation Skills Lab Coordinator for two campuses at Ball State in Gallatin, Tennessee. She began her career in retail management at Sears in 2006 before transitioning to nursing as a second career. After earning her associate's degree in nursing and working as a floor nurse and in patient experience at Ascension, followed by an educator role at a nursing home that included HR and infectious disease duties, she pursued her bachelor's and master's degrees while teaching part-time. Since joining Ball State in 2015, she has consistently taught fundamentals of nursing, women's health, and mental health, along with other courses, and focuses on building clinical reasoning skills through simulation. Ashley is active in professional organizations, including running for Director of Membership with the Tennessee Nurses Association and serving as campaign manager at the ANA membership assembly. She attributes her success to her goal-driven nature, dedication, resilience from a blue-collar single-parent background, and strong values of integrity, honesty, dependability, and work ethic.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ashley
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think it's a couple things. One, I don't come from a background of professionals. I come from a very blue-collar background. As a single parent. And my daughter's father's never been in the picture. Some of it was out of need. I had to be successful to provide what she needed. I'm very goal-driven, and I'm very dedicated to my goals. When I decide I'm gonna do something, that's what I'm gonna do, and I'm gonna put my full effort into it. A lot of my self-worth comes out of how successful and how well I do things. Another part is resilience. Just because I was unsuccessful doesn't mean that it was a straight road to success. I have a plaque that says everything's going to be fine, because ultimately it will. Having that resilience and that ability to just figure things out has helped my success.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
One of the biggest things that I value is integrity. Integrity and honesty are very important to me. If you don't have that, how do you even really have values? I'm a very honest person. I value dependability. I like to be a dependable person. I value work ethic and that tenacity.
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