Dean Heath is Featured on Provost Timothy Tracy's Blog

University of Kentucky Provost Tim Tracy featured a Q&A with Dean Janie Heath on his blog. Below is the Q&A:

At the University of Kentucky, it is truly an honor to work with such a large and diverse group of talented people. As we prepare to take our Strategic Plan to the Board of Trustees later this month, I am particularly grateful for our 18 academic deans.

Having served as a dean myself for five years, I’m humbled by the talent and dedication we see among our deans and their work on behalf of our institution. The deans provide visionary leadership in the advancement of their educational, research and service missions, while managing financial and human resources, promoting success among faculty, staff and students, and overseeing fundraising and alumni relations.

It is through their hard work that we promote a culture of academic excellence on our campus, allowing us to profoundly impact our community and the broader world we serve. For that reason, I am excited to begin a blog series that celebrates deans and the leadership of their respective colleges.

This week, I asked Dean Janie Heath from the College of Nursing to answer a series of questions.

Dean Janie Heath, PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN, has 39-year-long career in critical care nursing, nursing administration, advanced practice and academia. She joined the College of Nursing in 2014, as its fifth dean and Warwick Professor of Nursing.

What are your biggest priorities as Dean of the College of Nursing?

My primary priority is to improve the College of Nursing’s working and learning environments. However, 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 and empowers students, faculty and staff to reach their full potential.

Today’s landscape in higher education and nursing is under attack with numerous pressures - financial, regulatory, and economic. My priority is to relentlessly advocate for, garner and protect our resources so that we can continue to enhance our environments and our reputation as the great educators, researchers and practicing professionals that we are.

The outcome is to advance nursing science and graduate more students who will serve as nurse-scientists, educators, practitioners and leaders who transform our country’s health care systems.

What are your biggest successes so far?

If I had to just name one thing, it is how our faculty, staff and students are coming together to take the College of Nursing to the next level. They have been open and responsive to change and have embraced new leadership structures that will ensure our community is fully engaged and transparent.

It is important that the College’s faculty and staff are fully engaged in decision-making, developing a new strategic plan for the college and in creating new processes and efficiencies that will improve the way we teach, practice and conduct research.

I truly believe that our biggest success so far is recognizing and taking care of our most valuable resource – people. I see it in the little things everyday that make a difference in the lives of our students, our faculty and our staff, and that's what I'm most proud of.

What is your favorite thing about being Dean of the College of Nursing?

There is nothing I don't love about serving as the Dean– even the tough conversations that take place when advocating for resources, because it will help our faculty, staff and students get to a better place.

It is a true honor to listen to our community of interest (faculty, staff, students, alumni and clinical partners) and be the voice of the College of Nursing and for the profession – it is a privilege and an honor to be able to help make a difference in the lives of so many.

The most fun part of serving as the Dean is enjoying every moment with the fullest presence as possible – the University of Kentucky has so much to love, absorb and treasure. Whether celebrating academic performance victories, student athletic victories, or welcoming alumni, or national or international dignitaries to the campus - it doesn't get any cooler than that.

A lot of people might not know how impactful nursing research is, could you talk about nursing research?

Faculty researchers are doing groundbreaking work at the College of Nursing and are producing amazing outcomes for Kentucky, the U.S., and throughout the world.

The College’s accomplishments in research have been profound. Despite shrinking dollars, our faculty members have been successful at obtaining the resources they need to perform research that’s making a difference in disease prevention and health promotion, managing and eliminating symptoms and enhancing lives.

Three senior researchers at the College have played significant roles in advancing research at the College.

Professor Ellen Hahn, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a pioneer of tobacco research and smoke-free policy whose work has brought about dramatic changes in Kentucky. She is director of the Clean indoor Air Partnership and Kentucky Center for Smoke Free Policy, co-director of the College of Nursing’s NIH funded Center for Biobehavioral Research in Self Management for Cardiopulmonary Disease and has a joint appointment as a faculty member at the Markey Cancer Center.

Professor Debra Moser, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, is a prominent nurse researcher in cardiovascular disease. She is a founder and co-director of the Research and Interventions for Cardiovascular Health RICH Heart Program, co-directs the Center for Biobehavioral Research in Self Management of Cardiopulmonary Disease and is co-editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. She was also the first researcher in Kentucky to receive a Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Grant.

Professor Deborah Reed, PhD, MSPH, RN, FAAOHN, is the former director of the Occupational Health Nurse PhD Training Program and has worked with multiple organizations to further the cause of occupational health in agriculture. Currently one of only five agricultural health researchers at Research I universities across the country, Dr. Reed has dedicated her career to understanding health and injury risks in agriculture and how they can be prevented.

Through their own achievements, they have drawn attention to the College as a top center for nursing science; through their dedication to mentorship, they are helping to develop the College’s up-and-coming researchers.

President Capilouto often likes to say that this is the University for Kentucky. How does the College of Nursing serve the Commonwealth of Kentucky?

With Kentucky having some of the most pressing health needs in the country in particular with high prevalence of smoking, high percentage of children in poverty and high rate of preventable hospitalization, the demand to make a difference could not be greater. The good news is that nurse responsibilities and scope of practice have greatly increased, which means nurses can lead significant change and make a difference in health and wellness in the Commonwealth.

We are helping Kentucky develop its nurse workforce through our Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. Evidence shows that patient outcomes are directly linked to the level of a nurse’s education.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM), a division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, has responded to this fact by calling for 80% of nurses to hold a minimum of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree by 2020.

A recent study conducted by Dr. Nora Warshawsky, PhD, RN, CNE, assistant professor in the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, showed that only 40 percent of Kentucky’s nurses have at least a BSN.

To meet this demand the College Nursing has increased the size of its incoming freshman class – from 160 students to 200 students each year.

We are also looking at new models that will ensure the delivery of high quality, safe and compassionate health care. The College of Nursing has been on the forefront with the interprofessional education (IPE) movement, and I look forward to helping accelerate and advance that agenda.

We are also looking at other models such as a Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) Option, which is an accelerated MSN pre-licensure nursing education option for second-degree students. We are also exploring how our seamless programs of study for doctoral education such as a BSN-to-DNP and a BSN-to-PhD can have a further reach.

Our graduates not only deliver high quality health care in Kentucky, but they are also the leaders and innovators who are creating new, innovative health care delivery models that are changing our country’s health care systems.

What drew you to this field?

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 challenges, including the death of my mother when I was ten years old and a father who made some poor health choices. 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 so many, including Dean Delores Kruger, believed in me and saw something in me that I did not and helped me earn my nursing degree. From that day on, through each successive academic degree, I was driven to be a better nurse, teacher, researcher and leader. 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.