An Enduring Legacy: Wisener gift to benefit C-N nursing students

Celebrating a legacy of service, Carson-Newman University dedicated the second floor of its Drama and Ted Russell Center, Friday, Nov. 6, honoring Sandra “Sandy” Wisener. Coinciding with the University’s Homecoming the event recognized the life and career of Wisener, whose financial gift for nursing student scholarships speaks to her heart for caring and preparing others to serve in the medical field.

The floor is a vital hub of Carson-Newman’s health sciences program, featuring, offices, classrooms, study areas and skills lab space.

“When I got a chance to learn a little bit about Sandy’s life, one of the phrases that I had read was a life of adventure and service,” said Dr. Lana Spence, dean of Carson-Newman’s College of Health Sciences. “I thought that was a beautiful description and really fulfilled what our mission is here, to help send our students out as educated citizens and worldwide servant-leaders.”

An Alabama native who passed away in 2025, Sandy Wisener truly did live a life in service and adventure. In the early 1970s, she served as head of nursing aboard the hospital ship Project HOPE in Brazil. She was later commissioned into the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and confirmed as a Captain by the U.S. Senate during the 101st Congress. Her military and mission work carried her to Nigeria, Ethiopia and Guinea-Bissau, where she cared for patients in hospitals, remote villages and leper colonies, often working directly with national leaders.

Wisener later became chief nursing officer at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. She later joined Ernst & Young, where she served as one of the firm’s first female partners and helped launch its Health Care Consulting Practice. A passionate advocate for patient care and professional nursing practice, she was known for her charisma, compassion and strength of conviction.

An active member of First Baptist Church Knoxville, she helped coordinate the church’s work with the American Red Cross to house victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Though not an alumna of Carson-Newman, her gift to the University speaks to a legacy of helping others and believing in the kind of education that Carson-Newman nursing students receive.

“Sandy’s legacy can continue with Christian nurses from this area that can go out and mimic her life locally, nationally, and internationally,” said 1992 C-N alumnus Clark Denton, a friend of Wisener’s.  “She would be extremely honored by supporting all those kids.”

Such support is invaluable according to Spence, who sees first-hand the impact scholarships have on students. “For these students, a scholarship like this to support them really is a game changer,” she said. “I think that more students potentially will be able to see themselves as a Carson-Newman student when they realize that some of these scholarships are available to them.”