UW-Madison names new dean of School of Nursing

Linda Scott, associate dean for academic affairs at the College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, has been named dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Scott will succeed Katharyn May, who is stepping aside as dean after 15 years of service and will remain as a member of the faculty.

“We are thrilled to welcome Linda to campus,” says Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf. “Her dedication to improving nursing education and passion for helping patients will inspire our students and their commitment to health care.”

Scott has a doctorate from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a master’s degree from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in East Lansing. She will begin in Madison July 15.

“Building on a visionary legacy of leadership and community partnership, the School of Nursing is poised to meet the national mandate to prepare a highly educated and diverse nursing workforce that can address the health care needs of the state,” Scott says. “I look forward to working with the faculty, staff, students, alumni and board of visitors to enhance and integrate a strategic research and practice agenda into an already strong academic mission.”

Scott has served in her current position since 2012 and previously was associate dean for graduate programs at Kirkhof College of Nursing at Grand Valley State. from 2009 to 2012. Scott was honored with the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2013.

Her program of research focuses on the impact of fatigue and sleep deprivation on both nurses and their patients. Recently, she gave a keynote presentation on the subject at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing as part of its visiting scholar program. Scott is a member of numerous professional organizations, including board member and fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, American Nurses Association, International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing and the Sleep Research Society.

Barbara Bowers, a professor in the School of Nursing, chaired a 13-member search committee, which recommended finalists to the provost.

The dean, who reports to the chancellor through the provost, serves as the chief academic and executive officer of the school, with responsibility for faculty and staff development, personnel oversight, budget planning and management, research/curricular/student academic affairs, and fundraising.

Established in 1924, the school is the leading nursing research institution in Wisconsin. It is an integral academic partner with the School of Medicine and Public Health and the School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, the American Family Children’s Hospital and the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital.

The nursing school has a long history of interdisciplinary research in health care and is taking the lead in interprofessional education. It has been ranked among the top 25 nursing programs in the U.S. for more than 15 years.