A Conversation With the New Dean
10/30/2014 – Last March, after a long, nationwide search, the University of Kentucky announced the good news—the College of Nursing had found its new dean.
Janie Heath, PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN, is a national nursing leader with nearly 40 years’ experience in nursing and a background marked by nationally recognized achievements in nursing education, tobacco control and health care outreach.
Dr. Heath has held nursing faculty positions at the University of South Carolina, Georgia Health Sciences University, Georgetown University and most recently at the University of Virginia School of Nursing where she was associate dean of Academic Programs and the Thomas Saunders III Endowed Professor. She’s been at the forefront of acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP), clinical nurse leader (CNL) and Doctor of Nurse Practice (DNP) education in the Southeast and has served in leadership roles for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties and the American Academy of Nursing.
Last summer when Dr. Heath and her husband, Mike, (a retired U.S. Army colonel who served as pharmacy consultant to the U.S. Army Surgeon General) were preparing for their move to Kentucky, we caught up with the newly appointed Warwick Professor and dean of the College to talk about her views, her goals and her vision for Kentucky’s flagship nursing program.
Q: Your leadership journey has taken you from Oklahoma to South Carolina, Georgia, Washington and Virginia. What brought you to Kentucky?
A: I always knew I’d pursue a deanship one day and I had three criteria for the right position: it had to be with a highly ranked public university; a flagship school of nursing in a research-intensive academic medical center; and in a state where I had professional and/or personal ties.
A couple of years ago, a longtime colleague of mine, Ellen Hahn (PhD, RN, FAAN), a professor at the College, called about the deanship opportunity here and asked if I’d be interested in applying. At the time, I had been at Virginia less than a year and was very happy in my role as the academic dean. The timing just wasn’t right. Then in the summer of 2012, while attending a two-week leadership training program at Harvard University, I met fellow attendee David Brennan, dean of UK’s College of Law. I asked him how the dean search had ended up and he said it had been put on hold but that it should be starting up again soon. I got home on Sunday and heard from him Monday that the search was back on.
With almost two years at Virginia under my belt and the support and encouragement of my dean and all-time mentor Dorrie Fontaine (PhD, RN, FAAN), who is dean of the University of Virginia School of Nursing, the time was right. With my interest in tobacco control and having longtime colleagues in Kentucky, the phenomenal academic medical center, plus my brother and his family in Louisville … it was everything I’d hoped for.
And then there was an interesting piece of history I found while researching UK. Planning for the College of Nursing started in 1956, the same year I was born. I saw that as an additional sign that this was meant to be.
Q: What did you know about the College before accepting the deanship and what have you discovered since?
A: Of course I knew about the strong nursing science being generated, including tobacco control research, which is an important area of scholarly interest for me. And actually, in the ‘90s, when I was at Georgetown University and launching the first Summer Institute for Tobacco Control among Nursing Faculty Leaders, two of the first attendees were Assistant Professor Lynn Kelso (MSN, RN, APRN, FAANP), and Professor Sharon Lock (PhD, APRN), both from UK.
What I was not aware of before I came was the depth of the practice mission here. Critical care has always been my focus and I was thrilled to learn that two nationally recognized critical care nurse leaders would be joining us, both successfully recruited by our former interim dean, Professor Patricia B. Howard (PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN). One of them, Professor Sheila Melander (PhD, RN, ACNP-BC, FCCM, FAANP), is president of the National Organization for Nurse Practitioner Faculties and the other, Professor Carol Thompson (PhD, DNP, RN, CCRN, ACNP, FCCM, FAANP, FAAN), is past president of the Society for Critical Care Medicine. That’s huge for us.
Q: What is your vision for the College and what will it take to achieve it?
A: Although it is too soon to crystallize, there is no doubt that the vision—the College’s vision—will include a continuing drive to optimize our working and learning environments. It’s not just about the bricks and mortar. It’s about people and relationships. When we have that foundation, it creates a culture that is engaged, one that empowers students, empowers faculty and empowers staff to reach their full potential.
Today’s landscape in higher education and nursing is under attack with numerous pressures—financial, regulatory, and economic. This is our time to come together to address and overcome those challenges. My priority will be to relentlessly advocate for, garner and protect resources so that we can continue to enhance our environments and our reputation as the great educators, researchers and practicing professionals that we are.
Everyone is a stakeholder in this —our faculty and staff, our students and alumni, our university colleagues and clinical partners, our legislators, decision-makers and the people we serve in Kentucky and beyond.
Q: As dean, faculty and students will look to you for your philosophy on nursing education. Would you share your thoughts on that?
A: My passion for teaching is grounded in the belief that it is a privilege … and that being a good teacher requires continually seeking growth and admitting one can and should always try to become better. And what is at the core of my philosophy is that regardless of the topic area, we must teach with energy and enthusiasm. I also believe that not all students learn in the same way, and helping students reach their full potential requires searching for new and more effective methods of teaching and learning.
Integrating relevant and real-life examples using multi-mixed learning strategies are paramount. Students need our educators to help bring confidence and light into a world that they may feel is unknown and overwhelming. There's much more to cultivating a nurse than teaching them to write a paper or successfully complete an exam. They need to articulate why and where they are headed as professional nurses and what evidence they bring to their daily practice of managing the care of patients, families, communities and systems.
My goal is to cultivate environments to optimize the care provided by compassionate and competent clinicians, the research generated by creative and scholarly nurse scientists and the teaching provided by outstanding facilitators of learning.
Q: How do you see your role as dean and what are some of your first priorities?
A; I see myself as a connector, a motivator and a listener. Dr. Howard has provided some great insights during this transition. She has validated what I observed during my deanship interview process—that we have high quality academic programs and outstanding faculty, staff, students and alums. My first priority has been to continue a 45-day listening tour to hear more about their thoughts, insights and hopes.
Later this fall or during the first part of the new year, I will provide a state-of-the-College address outlining how we can be stronger together and strengthen the coming together of knowledge, learning and caring for diverse populations of patients, families, communities and systems. There are a number of new collaborative strategic initiatives that faculty are already initiating. I’m excited about promoting and working on these initiatives to help expand them for sustainable success.
As a self-professed relationship-values-based leader, it is a high priority to ensure those that I serve know that I am there for them.
Q: You’ve been very up front about your goal to raise the profile of the College by focusing on the high quality and rigor of the programs.
A: Excellence in so many areas and in people abounds here, but unless you have connections or reasons to look at Kentucky it’s not the first nursing program that comes to mind on the national front … but it should be. Look at the legacy— former deans serving as president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, distinguished alumni on the forefront of nursing science and health policy, our role in pushing the agenda forward nationally and being the first university with the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, the cardiovascular research we’re doing, the tobacco control work.
And our BSN graduates achieving a 100 percent pass rate on the NCLEX exam this past academic year! That is an unbelievable success especially when you consider that the exam was recently changed to become even more rigorous.
Other nursing programs’ scores took a dip when that happened, but the University of Kentucky scores did not. As a former dean for academics, I know what an extraordinary accomplishment that was for both students and faculty. I’m really looking forward to learning more about the structures and processes we have in our undergraduate program to make that kind of NCLEX success possible. I want to share that story … NCLEX is just one of many where I can brag.
Q: The demand for highly educated nurses in the workforce is increasing and so is the financial pressure on the academic programs preparing them. You talk about innovative models of education and health care delivery. What do you mean by that?
A: Nursing has reached a pivotal juncture and it truly is our time to be on the forefront. The health care needs are great in Kentucky with 14 percent of the population uninsured and 29 percent of adults being tobacco dependent. The good news is that with the release of the 2010 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to elevate nurses’ responsibilities and scope of practice, we have the chance to lead significant changes. If we want to ensure the criticality of delivering high quality, safe and compassionate health care, we have to change the way we teach, practice and do research.
The College’s former dean, Jane Kirschling, (DNS, RN, FAAN) started the interprofessional education (IPE) movement here and I look forward to helping accelerate and advance that agenda. Other models for the future of quality and safety in health care are the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) Option, which is an accelerated MSN pre-licensure nursing education option for second-degree students. What I look forward to is exploring the opportunities for another “Kentucky first” and seamless programs of study for doctoral education such as the BSN-to-DNP and BSN-to-PhD. Faculty are already expanding curricula to help close the gap for seamless education. Advancing team research, team practice and team teaching—with seven different health professions we have so much opportunity here at UK.
Q: You’ve called UK HealthCare a phenomenal resource. What impresses you in particular?
A: When I first interviewed with Michael Karpf (MD, executive vice president for health affairs at UK HealthCare) he reminded me with a proud smile and at least a dozen charts that the UK system is a strong, research-intensive clinical enterprise. Although the quality data were impressive, what really stood out was meeting with UK HealthCare Chief Nurse Executive Colleen Swartz (DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC), a graduate of our DNP Program. She has phenomenal energy, vision and leadership. Having Dr. Swartz as my number one clinical partner is going to be very exciting. I look forward to forging more partnerships and using that synergy to advance quality care and nursing research across the enterprise.
Q: And the advantages of being part of a research-intensive university like UK?
A: That’s huge, too. The College has what I’d call a “powerhouse” of nurse scientists who have been bringing science to life through collective, innovative and creative inquiry for well over a decade. I am most grateful to boast that we average $100,000 per regular title series faculty (tenure track) as extramurally funded PIs to improve health and wellness for people in Kentucky and beyond.
From Professor Debra Moser (DNSc, RN, FAAN), and her work with cardiovascular populations to Professor Hahn’s work with tobacco control policy, to Professor Deborah Reed (PhD MSPH, RN, FAAOHN), and her work in occupational health, to the work of Associate Professor Kristin Ashford (PhD, RN, APRN), to improve maternal-child outcomes—our “powerhouse” nurse scientists have forged phenomenal statewide and national cross-discipline partnerships and research teams.
Q: You’ve been recognized for your contributions as a leader in nursing practice, science and education. What are a few of the lessons you’ve learned along the way?
A: Unlike most, I didn’t grow up wanting to be a nurse. My motivation was pure economics. I came from a military family that experienced a few unfortunate events, including the death of my mother when I was ten years old and a father who went down an unhealthy path.
Living pretty much on our own, my brother and I learned fairly early the true meaning of “extended family and friends.” By the time I was in high school, I knew the day was coming when I’d need to get a “real” job so I asked my counselor if there were any scholarships available. She pulled information on one out of her desk and asked, “How about nursing?”
Although the rest is history, working on my associate’s degree was a real struggle, financially and academically. But Dean Delores Kruger believed in me and saw something in me that others did not and helped me earn my degree. From that day on, through each successive academic degree, I was driven to be a better nurse, teacher, researcher and leader.
So growing up in the military taught me how to be more flexible and adaptable to change; overcoming life challenges at an early age taught me how to be more resilient and resourceful; and having great mentors taught me how to help others reach their full potential.
Fun Fact about Dean Heath
I love symbolism. When I was at Georgia I had faculty who wanted to go on their first medical mission trip with the College of Medicine. They needed the resources and support to get to Peru so I worked to find them the funds they needed. When they got back they presented me with this tiny, beautifully made box as a thank you. Inside was a little jeweled lapel pin that looked to me like a wildcat or a tiger. No, they said, it was a puma, one of the three symbols of Peru: the eagle, the snake and the puma. I laughed to myself and thought, hmmm, glad I didn’t get the snake but why not the eagle? They told me the puma is the Peruvian symbol for “the shepherd of mankind” and I thought, wow ... yes. That’s the perfect symbol. That’s who I am and who I want to be. It’s who we all are as nurses. You know, I’ve worn that pin so many times over the years. Every important meeting, presentation or interview, I wore that pin. It was a reminder to me that regardless of the outcome, I’m a “puma” at heart and that’s what matters most in my life, especially when it comes to taking care of those entrusted to me.
Written by Sue Fay
