The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Texas Lottery® Veteran Recognition: Dr. Linda H. Yoder
10.31.2025 | Longhorn Sports Properties / Learfield
The retired U.S. Army Colonel will be honored when Texas Football hosts Vanderbilt on Nov. 1.
Dr. Linda Yoder grew up in a patriotic family. Service to community and country was prioritized and valued, and her desire to serve others has shaped her life and career.
A 28-year veteran of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, Yoder cared for patients as a bedside surgical and oncology nurse, educated field medics and provided executive leadership in hospital administration, while also pursuing masters and doctoral degrees to better enable quality clinical science. Yoder continued her dedication to the nursing profession as a professor at The University of Texas, where she has taught, mentored and researched for 17 years.
"Nursing is not just a job – nursing is a calling," Yoder said. "You've got to want to do it, and you have to want to do a good job for the people you are taking care of."
Yoder's father served in the Army; she was born in Germany, attended high school in San Antonio and was encouraged by a high school counselor to pursue the competitive program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing. Yoder began her active-duty service obligation in 1978, and four years later she was the first woman awarded the Expert Field Medical Badge from an all-male Airborne Infantry unit in Italy, which required rigorous physical and written examination components.
"Women like me and my colleagues created opportunities for current military women. Being in the Army motivates you to push the boundaries, and for me, I wanted to be the best at whatever I was doing. And still do," said Yoder, who retired as a Colonel in 2002.
Yoder earned three master's degrees and then decided to work on a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania primarily because she was frustrated by the lack of academic research aimed at helping clinicians serve patients. She completed all required military education and is a graduate of the Army War College. In addition to compassion and empathy, Yoder said nurses benefit from a disciplined understanding of the science that guides how they lean in and meet their patients' medical conditions and unique needs. Her hospital-based research contributed to improving patient outcomes.
"It is constant learning so you can take care of patients where they need to be helped," Yoder said.
After retiring from the Army, Yoder was invited to join the faculty at the UT School of Nursing in 2006; she led the nursing administration concentration and has taught a variety of courses, such as in leadership and complex systems management, all with the principled focus of helping students understand how "to do the right thing for the patient and the family in your care, whatever the venue." She teaches graduate nursing students and mentors Army ROTC nursing students who have the added dimension of becoming military officers.
"From day one, as an Army nurse, you are expected to be a leader," Yoder said.
Yoder is an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nursing Fellowship and a past president of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN). Yoder received the AMSN President's Award in 2014, and she is also a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Yoder retired from UT Austin in 2024 as professor emerita.
"I owe my career to the American public. Taxpayer dollars paid for my education. I feel very humbled and honored because being a nurse was a way to be of service," Yoder said.
Thanks to the Texas Lottery, great things are happening all across Texas. The Texas Lottery consistently contributes nearly $2 billion of lottery revenue each year to good causes like public education and veterans' assistance programs. Beginning with the first veterans' dedicated scratch ticket game in 2009, the Texas Lottery has now contributed over $279 million to the Fund for Veterans' Assistance.
Since 1992, the Texas Lottery has generated more than $41 billion in revenue for the state of Texas. Through strict adherence to its vision, mission and core values, the Texas Lottery is dedicated to ensuring that this support continues. The Texas Lottery's functions and activities are administered by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), the state agency responsible for licensing and regulating a broad range of professions, occupations and industries in Texas.