Juliann Sebastian, Ph.D., has accepted the position of dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing, effective Oct. 15, pending Board of Regents approval. Dr. Sebastian currently is dean and professor of the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Nursing.
She would succeed Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., the college’s sixth dean, who retires June 30 after almost eight years at UNMC. As dean, Dr. Sebastian will be responsible for providing leadership in planning, organizing and securing resources to accomplish the goals and objectives of the college.
Janet Cuddigan, Ph.D., UNMC College of Nursing associate professor of nursing, will serve as acting dean from July 1, until Dr. Sebastian takes over in October.
“I am tremendously honored and excited about the opportunity to be part of this amazing academic health sciences center,” Dr. Sebastian said. “I look forward to working with faculty, staff, students, alumni, colleagues from other health professions at UNMC, and community members and friends of the college, to build on the great work of Dean Tilden moving into the future.”
Prior to Dr. Sebastian being appointed dean in St. Louis in August, 2006 she served as assistant dean for advanced practice nursing and professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing. Her areas of expertise are organization of care delivery systems, and in particular, care for underserved populations, academic nursing practice and nurse-managed centers, and doctor of nursing practice program curricula.
“Based on everything I’ve learned about Julie, she is an experienced and a nationally known nursing leader with important academic credentials and delightful personal qualities,” said Harold M. Maurer, M.D., chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “I feel confident that she will be an outstanding leader of the UNMC College of Nursing. I am grateful to Dr. Jim Linder and the search committee for identifying this superb candidate.”
Dr. Sebastian earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from the University of Kentucky College of Nursing and a doctorate in business administration from University of Kentucky College of Business and Economics. She is board certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a public/community health clinical nurse specialist.
She currently serves as secretary and is a member of the executive committee on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing board of directors. She has served in various other roles in the AACN. She served as associate editor for leadership for the Journal of Professional Nursing from 2007 to 2009 and is currently a member of the editorial board (2010-12).
She has presented at numerous national and international conferences on areas of her expertise and has published numerous papers, book chapters and abstracts, as well as three books related to community nursing. Dr. Sebastian was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 1999.
Dr. Sebastian served as vice president of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing from 1995-97 and chair of the board of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing Foundation from 1997-2001. She was one of the first fellows selected in the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship program from 1998-2001.
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