Dear UT Community,
I am writing to let you know that Alexa Stuifbergen will conclude her tenure as dean of the School of Nursing and return to the faculty upon completion of the 2022-23 academic year. A national search has begun to identify her successor.
Dean Stuifbergen, who is the James R. Dougherty, Jr. Centennial Professor in Nursing and holds the Laura Lee Blanton Chair in Nursing, became interim dean for the School of Nursing in August 2009 and dean in December 2010. She has done an outstanding job strengthening the school’s reputation and enhancing its impact as one of the nation’s leading nursing schools. Ranked No. 12 in the nation among public schools of nursing by U.S. News & World Report, the School of Nursing also ranks among the top nursing institutions in research funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Under her leadership, the School of Nursing made history when one of its faculty members administered the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Central Texas, and its students, faculty and staff then mobilized to coordinate and administer tens of thousands of vaccines throughout our community.
Dean Stuifbergen began her career on the Forty Acres in 1988 as a project coordinator shortly after receiving a Ph.D. in nursing from UT Austin. She joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 1989. She is a highly regarded researcher in the areas of health promotion, chronic conditions, and rehabilitation, and she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses for more than 30 years. Dean Stuifbergen served as a member of the National Advisory Council on Nursing Research for the NIH and on national committees for the Rehabilitation Nursing Foundation, the National MS Society, and the NIH.
Through Dean Stuifbergen’s leadership, the School of Nursing has recruited new nursing faculty scholars to address health equity. Additionally, since the beginning of her tenure, Dean Stuifbergen and the school have secured over $47 million in new commitments to support scholarships, renovations, faculty, and community-focused initiatives, including the establishment of 52 new endowments that have enhanced the mission of education, service, and research. The school has demonstrated time and again the tremendous value of nursing education, whether through community partnerships, interdisciplinary professional education, compassionate and tireless care — as seen during COVID-19 vaccine administration — or through the critical research and scholarship that address our country’s health care needs. These accomplishments underscore Dean Stuifbergen’s deep commitment to the university and the School of Nursing.
Please join me in celebrating Dean Stuifbergen’s tremendous contributions and thanking her for her leadership and service as dean.
Sincerely,
Sharon L. Wood
Executive Vice President and Provost