Carthage Technical Center

Mari Beth Linder, PhD, MSN, RN-BC, CNE

Mari Beth Linder is the Practical Nursing Coordinator at Carthage Technical Center. She attended Pittsburg State University and completed the BSN degree.  After working as a registered nurse for several years, she completed the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree at the University of Mississippi with emphasis in maternal-child health and nursing education.  She later completed the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree at University of Missouri - Kansas City.

Dr. Linder has taught nursing students at various levels of entry into nursing practice, including practical nurse education, associate degree, baccalaureate degree and master's degree education.  She has contributed numerous peer-reviewed articles and chapters in nursing texts and journals.  She served on the editorial board of the Journal of Radiology Nursing.  She also served on various committees for the Missouri Board of Nursing, and on site visit teams for the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN).

Jo Ellen Branstetter, RN, MS, MS(N), PhD

Jo Ellen Branstetter earned a BSN from Pittsburg State University (PSU) in 1984 and an MS in Special Services and Administrative Studies (Community College/Psychology) from PSU in 1992. She also earned an MSN (Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist track) and a PhD (research methods) from the University of Kansas School of Nursing in 1997 and 2007, respectively. During her career, Dr. Branstetter has worked in medical-surgical, pediatric, intensive care, obstetric/newborn, and psychiatric/mental health nursing. In addition, she has worked as a community health nurse (including immunization, well-baby, and family planning clinics; school nursing, and as a corrections facility nurse) and as an executive director for the American Cancer Society. For the last 29 years, Dr. Branstetter has been a nurse educator teaching in entry-level (AND/ASN, BSN, accelerated BSN), MSN, and DNP programs. Dr. Branstetter has authored/co-authored several publications and served as a textbook reviewer and co-chair of numerous programmatic and institutional accreditation teams. Dr. Branstetter has presented (invited) at regional and national conferences related to regional accreditation and research efforts. Dr. Branstetter has three fur babies.

Jessica Dutter, RN, MSN

Jessica has 7 years of nursing experience and has worked in many different areas of nursing. She has been a medical-surgical nurse for a majority of her career and traveled as a nurse during COVID. She has experience being a community RN, as well as an RN case manager. Jessica graduated from Cox College in 2017 with her Bachelors of Science in Nursing and then graduated in 2020 with her Master of Science in Nursing Education from WGU. She recently moved back to Missouri from Georgia where her husband was stationed as Active Duty in the Army. She has 2 beautiful daughters, 3 dogs, and is excited for this new career path in nursing education!