DEAN’S MESSAGE
This will be my last message to you in Vital Signs, as I am retiring in August of next year. It is with mixed emotions that I prepare to end my shift as dean. While it has been my great honor and privilege to lead the UIC College of Nursing, I am ready for the next phase of my life, which I hope to fill with travel, golf, and time with my family and friends. In the past 10 years, I’ve never been prouder of the UIC Nursing community than I am right now. Facing an unprecedented international health crisis, the UIC Nursing faculty, staff, students and alumni have shown their resilience, ingenuity, selflessness and commitment to the nursing profession. In early March, associate dean for practice and community partnerships Charles Yingling saw what was coming and put out a call to faculty colleagues, asking them to work at UI Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 100 responded ‘yes.’ Clinical associate professor Susan Walsh stepped up to organize a University Health Service COVID-19 remote screening line while clinical assistant professor Rebecca Singer developed the employee COVID-19 testing program. Our faculty and staff have also pivoted to provide students with the experiences they need, even when they can't be in-person, and have worked to respond to issues of health equality in our communities. When I took on the role of dean a decade ago, I knew if I did my job right, it wasn’t necessarily going to be glamorous, but it would be fulfilling. My goal was to advance the tripartite mission of the college—teaching, research and practice—and I’m proud to say that I believe we’ve done that. We increased enrollment by almost 25% across all programs and revamped the advanced practice nursing curriculum, transitioning it to the doctoral level. We created new philanthropically funded faculty positions, recruited top scientists and prioritized shared governance. We opened a nurse-run clinic in Humboldt Park to better reach underserved communities. We’ve made sure our campuses’ physical environments were on par with the best in the U.S. and would help students excel. This includes last year's grand opening of the M. Christine Schwartz Experiential Learning & Simulation Lab in Chicago, among the largest such labs of any U.S. nursing school. A national search for a new dean is already underway, and I feel confident that my successor will continue to advance our mission and burnish our reputation as a world-class institution. One of my highlights as dean is presiding over commencement each year, when I have the satisfaction of knowing we’ve prepared hundreds of new graduates to take on the healthcare challenges of our time. Make no mistake, even in retirement, I’ll still be watching eagerly to see what the graduates of this fine college do next.
Terri E. Weaver, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF Professor and Dean
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College of Nursing
