Howard Named Interim Dean of College of Nursing

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 21, 2012) − Patricia B. Howard, has been named interim dean of the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, effective Dec. 17, 2012. She replaces Jane M. Kirschling, who is leaving the university to become dean of the University of Maryland School of Nursing and university director of Interprofessional Education.

Howard is a professor and the associate dean for MSN and DNP Studies at the UK College of Nursing. Under her leadership the college opened its post-BSN-to-DNP Option in which BSN graduates transition into the doctor of nursing practice program as the master’s degree in nursing is phased out. She is also involved in research focusing on mental health care delivery, part of Kentucky’s development of a statewide plan for measuring outcomes of mental health care.

Her research has been published in Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, International Psychiatry, Issues in Mental Health Nursing and Psychiatric Services. She has presented the results of her research at regional, national and international levels, including Sigma Theta Tau International, the American Nurses Association Council of Nurse Researchers, the International Society for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (ISPN), the Southern Nursing Research Society, and the National Association of Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute. In 2005, she was appointed to the editorial board of Archives of Psychiatric Nursing.

In 2010, Howard was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She is a 1991 American Nurses Foundation Scholar and a founding board member of the International Society of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses. Since 1995, she has served as a research consultant and on various committees for the Kentucky Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services.

Media Contact: Ann Blackford at (859) 312-3587 or ann.blackford@uky.edu