INTRODUCING
Dean Collins Eileen G. Collins, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF, was selected from a national pool of
candidates as the UIC College of Nursing’s ninth dean. She took the helm on Sept. 1.
Even as she shot to the top as a researcher at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Eileen Collins was keen to keep her identity as a nurse at the forefront. In her 32-year career at the VA, Collins rose to acting associate chief of staff for research at the Hines VA and Lovell Federal Health Care Center. She was inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in 2016, recognizing a career that garnered $41 million in grant funding for her work on rehabilitation. “What I found was that as I was becoming more and more entrenched in research, I was losing my identity as a nurse,” Collins says. “I just love what nurses do, and it was important to me to keep that part of me intact.” Collins, who already had a part-time position as a professor at UIC Nursing, retired from the VA in 2017 to take a full-time position on the faculty. She became associate dean for research the next year. After a rigorous search process, Collins was selected to succeed Terri Weaver, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF, FAASM, who retired this year after 11 years and is now dean emerita. “I truly love this college,” Collins says. “In my nearly 20 years on the faculty, I've observed that the commitments we make to our students, to our community, and to each other make this college unique among nursing schools nationwide.” L E A R N M O R E about Dean Collins at go.uic.edu/nursingdean. 12 |
College of Nursing
