#MeetUsMonday: Special Farewell Edition — Christine Kueter
If you’ve crossed paths with Christine Kueter at UVA School of Nursing, you know this: she makes people feel seen—and she shows up. For people. For stories. For the School whose voice she helped shape. Her impact has been tremendous, elevating the work and stories of countless students, faculty, and staff. As she steps into a new chapter, this special edition of #MeetUsMonday is our way of saying thank you—and giving her the feature she never let us write while she was here.
Meet Christine.
Writer, storyteller, connector, and walker of very long distances. Former senior editor and director of communications and marketing whose nearly 14 years at the School shaped its voice, stories, and sense of community. Mom to two teenage boys, Max and Mattie, and wife of Chris. Animal lover, bagel maker, painter, sewer, basket weaver, pianist. Incapable of sitting still. Hiker of Spain, Scotland, Ireland, England, and Switzerland and biker of the C&O Canal Towpath, who dreams of trekking England’s 220-mile Wainwright coast-to-coast walk one day (still seeking a brave hiking buddy!). Now a freelance radio reporter and writer.
EARLY LIFE
“I was born just outside Minneapolis, so I’m culturally very Midwestern—even though my family moved to Virginia when I was eleven. I’m a product of Albemarle County Public Schools, but attended college at Beloit in Wisconsin, majoring in English.
“I started school thinking I would be a veterinarian… until I got a D in organic chemistry.That’s when I realized maybe writing, not biology, was my path. I worked on the student newspaper, was literary journal editor, and took it all very seriously. I think I wore a lot of black. That’s really where I learned how much I loved storytelling.”
“Nursing stories are human stories. That’s what’s kept me here—the chance to write about work and people that truly matters. People here are so intentional in their choice of nursing; I so admire that. I think everyone is interesting, but find that to be particularly true here."
Christine Kueter
EARLY CAREER
“My first real newsroom experience was at The New Haven Advocate, and then I interned at The Atlantic. Because none of the positions paid, I worked at Waterstones bookstore in Boston. My first real job was at book publisher Houghton Mifflin where I was essentially a secretary, it got me in the door and I learned so much. Fast forward a few years, and I landed my first university jobs—at the University of Arkansas, then Harvard, then Northeastern. That work taught me a lot . . . but I missed chasing stories. So, in the early 2000s, I took a leap as a general assignment reporter at the Lowell Sun.
“It was the best job I ever had. I covered everything: dead bodies that’d surfaced in the Merrimack River, a strip club reopening, somebody’s pet python gone missing, the shenanigans of town managers. It taught me that all politics is local and nothing’s ever boring and that a well-asked question is a door. I loved being in a newsroom.
“After I had my boys, I kept writing. I was a correspondent for The Boston Globe, and later, after we’d moved to Charlottesville to be closer to my parents, a new chapter opened. While I continued to do freelance work, I interviewed at UVA School of Nursing for a part-time position, and thought, ‘These are people I want to work with.’ The School very quickly felt like home.”
BEST PART OF HER ROLE
“Nursing stories are human stories. That’s what’s kept me here—the chance to write about work and people that truly matters. People here are so intentional in their choice of nursing; I so admire that. I think everyone is interesting, but find that to be particularly true here.
“I remember Jeanne Alhusen telling me about doing a pelvic exam on a young woman with Down’s syndrome who had multiple STDs, and how much it impacted her research. Ishan Williams’ advisory board members’ dread of having diagnostic tests in hospital basements. The care Ren Capucao takes to share how Filipinos nurses’ experiences weigh on their bodies and minds. How Crystal Toll’s neighbors know they can help themselves to whatever’s in her backyard vegetable garden.
“And it’s not just faculty—it’s staff, too. People like Kathy McEldowney, who volunteers with the Scouts, Diane Washington, who writes letters to presidents, Symaah Banawoe, who has two jobs and wakes up at 4:30 every morning, and Dolores Fields and Linda Hanson, who quietly run elections because they’re passionate about it–not because they want credit for it. They’re secret superheroes.
“People here don’t always wear and show all the cool and complicated things that they are, but they carry them. They’re gentle, thoughtful, interesting human beings. Everyone here has a superpower—the things they don’t say, but that feed them on the inside. If we all knew more about each other, and cared to ask, wouldn’t we get less stuck arguing?”
UVA SCHOOL OF NURSING IN ONE WORD
“STORIED. We’re all like onions—we have layer after layer of things that motivate us, shape us, and make us who we are.”
WHAT'S NEXT
“MORE RADIO. That’s where I like to be. Radio feels pure because you can listen and create an image in your mind’s eye. We used to play the ‘would you rather’ game with the kids. If I had to choose, I’d rather be blind than deaf. I’d rather hear.
“I’m still not a YouTube person; it’s overstimulating. But I can listen to voices and sound forever—podcasts, music, all of it. I’m a words person. And for me, the journey is the thing—not just checking the box or finishing the assignment, but creating things, and the journey itself.”
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Christine's last day at the School of Nursing is Dec. 1, so stop by her office and wish her farewell!