{"id":131155,"date":"2026-04-08T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=131155"},"modified":"2026-04-09T10:13:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:13:23","slug":"liz-tierney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/04\/08\/liz-tierney\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on: Liz Tierney"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Liz Tierney has seen all sides of the department in her nearly 12 years as an administrative professional. She has supported the clinical and research operations, and for nearly the past five years, she has worked for the department chair and supported the chair\u2019s business office. She also now supports the department administrator, Kirsten Stites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love working for the department,\u201d she said, noting the variety of people and programs. \u201cIt\u2019s not the same thing every day. It\u2019s different. It can be challenging, but when something goes right, you feel a great sense of accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One recent accomplishment was earning her Professional Administrative Certification of Excellence, also known as PACE, from the American Society of Administrative Professionals (ASAP), a national organization. PACE certifies her depth of knowledge, expertise and commitment to her role as an administrative professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are so proud of Liz on earning this certification as a sign of this significant achievement,\u201d Stites said. \u201cThank you for your hard work, professionalism and dedication to excellence in the department.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tierney said: \u201cThere is so much that support staff do that people don\u2019t realize. It\u2019s not just answering phones or scheduling a meeting. You\u2019re coordinating an event or project; you\u2019re wearing so many different hats. You see a potential conflict arising with someone\u2019s schedule and you stave off problems and try to help keep the day going smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her primary responsibility is supporting Dr. Joseph Khoury, the department chair. \u201cSome people call it being a gatekeeper. I have to protect his time. He\u2019s a busy guy; he\u2019s got a lot of pots on the stove. And they\u2019re all usually simmering, if not boiling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tierney, an Iowa native, grew up in Hancock and graduated from Avoca High School. She worked for about 18 years in public relations at the Omaha World-Herald before coming to UNMC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she\u2019s not at work, she\u2019s a homebody, devoted to husband and family, two boys and two girls. \u201cMy youngest is 17, she\u2019s a junior in high school. My 20-year-old just applied for a pharmacy position here at Nebraska Medicine,\u201d she said, crossing her fingers. One son works in Kansas City, and her oldest son is a drill sergeant in the Army, stationed in Georgia. He and his wife have an infant son, Axel, Tierney\u2019s first grandchild. \u201cHe\u2019s a cutie patootie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she gets home from work, she makes a point to stay off most technology. \u201cIf the phone rings at home, I don\u2019t answer it. I\u2019m not on the computer. My husband will ask me to help him with something on the computer, and I\u2019ll be \u2018you realize I do that all day long?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She loves to get outside. \u201cThis time of year I love\u2014we plant wildflowers every year. So we\u2019re getting ready to do that again. We have two big flower beds in the front yard. And every weekend we go on walks. We usually do the Bob Kerrey bridge. When the weather gets warmer, there\u2019s a trail in the Loess Hills in Council Bluffs and we\u2019ll go there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She used to go riding with her husband on his motorcycle, but a serious crash in 2021 put a stop to that. She suffered a brain injury and other injuries. \u201cThat\u2019s another thing I love about this department\u2014they were very kind and patient with me while I healed. It was challenging coming back, because my brain was a little bit scrambled, and I was concerned that maybe I wasn\u2019t going to be able to do the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tierney had vowed that her motorcycle days were over. But maybe that\u2019s changing. \u201cThis past month, I told my husband maybe I want to get back on,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause it was fun\u2014we went riding everywhere. He still rides, and I miss that, doing that together. So I\u2019m wanting to do that again this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liz Tierney has seen all sides of the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology in her nearly 12 years as an administrative professional. “I love working for the department,” she said. “It’s not the same thing every day.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":131156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-pathology-and-microbiology","author_override-duane-retzlaff-unmc-department-of-pathology-microbiology-and-immunology"],"yoast_head":"\nSpotlight on: Liz Tierney Spotlight on: Liz Tierney<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Liz Tierney has seen all sides of the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology in her nearly 12 years as an administrative professional. 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