While living in Truro, Couture worked as a French instructor in the Humanities Department at Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC).

[4][5] With two other local Francophone parents, Couture-Nowak established the École acadienne de Truro, the first French language public school for central Nova Scotia in September, 1997.

[7] Couture-Nowak was teaching an Intermediate French class in Room 211 at Norris Hall on the morning of April 16, 2007 when she was killed by Seung-Hui Cho as one of the 32 victims in the Virginia Tech shooting.

Just before Cho arrived at Norris 211, Courture-Nowak peered outside the doorway and looked just in time to see the gunman shoot at two other professors (Kevin Granata and Wally Grant) before slamming the door shut and attempting to barricade it with the help of a student (Henry Lee) by pushing desks and chairs in front of the entrance while informing her students to get down under their desks or to the back of the room and call 911.

Nova Scotian Premier Rodney MacDonald also made special mention of Couture-Nowak, and in particular spoke of her contribution to the francophone community with her key role in the development of École acadienne in Truro.

[12] Couture-Nowak was discussed, along with Liviu Librescu, as potentially becoming the "iconic image that will forever recall the massacre at Virginia Tech" by CBC News Editor-in-Chief Tony Burman.

[20] In May 2008, Virginia Tech named Couture-Nowak's widower, Jerzy Nowak, as the founding director of its newly created Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention.