Education

About Arla Dunlop:

I have local roots in Central Washington, graduating from Ellensburg High School and serving as a nurse and nurse educator in Yakima and Kittitas counties my entire career. After I graduated from Seattle Pacific University in 1988, I accepted a job as a new graduate nurse in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Yakima Memorial until I moved to Ellensburg in 1993, where I worked at Kittitas Valley Healthcare for 20 years in a wide variety of nursing roles, and departments and raised my three children with my spouse, Chris.  

I pursued an advanced degree in 2013 and earned my Master's Degree in Nursing from the University of Washington, Bothell, in 2015 to fulfill my career-long goal of becoming a full-time nursing instructor. Shortly afterward, I moved back to Yakima in 2017 and returned to Memorial to work as an ICU nurse. I then started as an adjunct nursing instructor for Heritage University. At the end of 2020, I transitioned to the Clinical Education department. I served as the Clinical Education and Student Experience manager at MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital until I accepted a full-time position as the Clinical Skills Lab Instructor at YVC in January 2024.  

I'm passionate about teaching the next generation of nurses. I am grateful for my new position at Yakima Valley College, in the region I've called home for all my professional years. Outside of work, I love being a grandma to my grandbabies and a cat mom to my tuxedo cat, Patch. I also enjoy exploring and camping in the beautiful outdoors with family and friends.