Bianca Fortier, assistant professor in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences, is the 2026 winner of the Nancy Beyer Opler Award for Excellence in Advising.

The Opler Award honors the academic advisor who best demonstrates the ability to facilitate students’ adjustment to the academic community and support students in their academic and professional planning. 

Fortier will receive the award at the Scholars and Leaders Ceremony on Friday, May 8. As the Opler Award recipient, she will address the Colby-Sawyer Class of 2030 at Convocation in the fall. 

Fortier, who joined the faculty in 2021, is the program coordinator for the online bachelor-completion programs in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences, which includes those for registered nurses, respiratory therapists and health studies students.

She teaches courses related to healthcare research, community and public health nursing, and quality improvement projects for Capstones. She also is a nurse educator at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and teaches clinicals for Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing and traditional nursing students. 

Fortier is invested in her advisees’ success. “Students in the bachelor's completion programs are so impressive,” she said. "They are balancing multiple responsibilities between their schoolwork, home life and careers. These students put so much into their degree programs … Working with each one to achieve their individual goals is incredibly rewarding.” 

Fortier’s students point to her “accessibility, expertise and genuine investment in student success” in helping to shape their experience at the college. 

“I think I would have given up on going back to school for my BSN if not for Professor Fortier,” wrote an advisee who nominated her for the award. 

Fortier earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Saint Anselm College and a Master of Science in Nursing from Norwich University. She received a post-master’s certificate in patient safety and quality from Southern New Hampshire University.

In addition to her work as an advisor, professor and nurse educator, Fortier serves on the college’s Institutional Review Board and the Faculty Personnel, Liberal Education Review and Graduate & Professional Studies committees.  

She lives in Dorchester, New Hampshire, with her husband, David, and their children, Aspen and Sutton.