Bio

Esrold Nurse was a nine-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion as a member of the UW-Oshkosh men’s track & field program before embarking on a distinguished professional career in higher education.

Nurse competed for UW-Oshkosh from 1973-76 and was extremely successful on the WIAC indoor tracks, winning league individual titles in the 300-yard run in 1974 and 1976 and the 440-yard run in 1973 and 1976.

Nurse also added conference titles as a member of the Titans’ 1974 indoor 800-yard relay team; 1973, 1974 and 1976 indoor mile relay squad; and 1974 outdoor 440-yard relay unit.

Nurse was co-captain of the UW-Oshkosh indoor and outdoor teams in 1975 and 1976. He additionally was named the Titans’ Most Valuable Track Performer during each of his four seasons of both indoor and outdoor track & field.

Nurse set the WIAC record with a time of 49.7 seconds in the indoor 440-yard run in 1976 and helped the Titans establish a league mark in the indoor mile relay with a time of 3:23.3 in 1973.

Nurse, who helped UW-Oshkosh win the team title at the 1973 WIAC Indoor Championship, went on to qualify for the 1976 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Indoor Championship in the 440-yard run.

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Nurse graduated from UW-Oshkosh in 1976. He then earned a master’s degree from Western Michigan University in 1978 and a doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1994.

Nurse began his career in higher education at UW-Parkside as an admissions counselor and director of minority student services from 1979-86. He then joined the staff at the University of Wisconsin and held titles of assistant dean and deputy associate dean of the College of Letters and Sciences, and associate director of undergraduate admissions from 1986-95.

Most recently Nurse was at the University of Michigan from 1995-2020 in several roles, including executive director of the Advising Center for 23 years and a term as the director of Student Academic Affairs. Nurse was presented with the University of Michigan’s Distinguished Diversity Leaders Award in 2014.

Nurse met his wife of 44 years, Patricia, during his first class at UW-Oshkosh in 1972. Retired since 2020, Nurse lives in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Nurses are the parents of daughters Abigail and Angela and son Dale.