The University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing
Elizabeth Poster RN PhD FAAN
5 year Dean Review 2005- 2011
Over the last 5 years, it has been my pleasure to provide leadership to the growth and
development of the College, which was previously the School of Nursing until January 2010. It
goes without saying that the achievements of the College are the result of the work of the faculty
and staff and the support of the University’s administration and others.
Our 5 Year CCNE self-study report documents the state of the College at this time. While we
will not have official results until April 2012, the exit interview indicated that we met all of the
standards and can expect the full 10 year approval. This report and annual CoN reports since
1996 are available as documents for review. Highlights in these reports over these past 5 years
are related to quality of programs, student access and success, faculty recruitment and retention,
research and the complexity of all our programs and infrastructure to support change.
Over the past three years, the College has become the largest state funded Nursing program in
the United States with over 6000 students and more than 200 part and full time faculty members.
We have increased enrollment in both the graduate and undergraduate programs, and maintained
and developed programs with international reputations for excellence. Our 33% minority student
population attests to our commitment to diversity. Our graduate program is listed in the top 25%
by US News & World Report, and our BSN program is ranked as one of nine “high performers”
among the 100 nursing programs in Texas. In addition, we have established a MSN Nurse
Educator and DNP program and provided a Neonatal NP option for graduate students.
A key to successful growth and development in any academic setting is a good match between
the strengths of the faculty and staff and the needs of the programs. Our faculty and staff work
closely together to ensure that students come first within an atmosphere of academic excellence.
Using a faculty governance model, faculty members are integrally involved in all aspects of
college. Retention is high and people choose to work at UTA College of Nursing because of the
collegial work environment, the quality of the students and curricula, as well as the support they
receive to meet their professional goals. The recent UTA faculty survey indicated that among all
units on campus the College of Nursing faculty were most “satisfied”.
The strategic hiring and retention of the leadership team of Associate Deans and Program
Directors has been critical to the school’s stability over the last fifteen years and its ability to
grow and establish new programs using cutting edge educational technology. A team of leaders
who are excited about the possibilities and opportunities of change provide the school with role
models who are open to innovative and creative new ideas.
Our Smart Hospital™ is a case in point. In 2005 we purchased 2 available buildings on campus,
with a total of 13,000 sq. ft. for what is currently the Smart Hospital™. We have been
designated as one of less than 20 Laerdal Centers of Excellence in Simulation in the United
States. This designation was achieved through focused efforts and use of resources to reach our
goal rapidly. Among the effective strategies were marketing, collaboration with businesses, the
community and funding agencies, working with legislators, and involvement nationally in
presentations of outcomes. The Smart Hospital™ is also a Hill Rom National Demonstration
Showcase and the Care Fusion Nursing Discovery Center. These special
collaborations/partnerships enhance the reputation of the Smart Hospital™ and bring resources
to enhance student learning experiences. We are known as an innovative nursing program
nationally and internationally with strengths in cutting edge education, research and development
activities and outcomes. Simulation based initiatives have resulted in collaboration with the
UTA’s College of Engineering, Nanotechnology (NanoFab) Center, UT Dallas, UTA faculty in
other Colleges, as well as national and international colleagues. Our annual research reports
demonstrate the depth and breadth of what has been accomplished and how these projects have
been funded.
Resources and Infrastructure
The College of Nursing has increased its state budget allocation from 5 million dollars to well
over 9 million dollars to support the growth of enrollment and faculty and staff needs. In
addition, with the AP program growth since 2008, we will now have a steady revenue stream to
self-fund a large portion of our needs. The increased graduation rates have resulted in the CB
funding that was provided to faculty to supplement their salaries and to hire new faculty and
staff. In addition the legislative appropriation in 2010 of the first 5 Million dollar appropriation
resulted in more than doubling the BSN enrollment from 400 to over 800 and to support the
salaries and equipment needed to enhance the Smart Hospital™. We just completed a state audit
of the 5M spending. We passed with 100% compliance with standards and proposed outcomes.
The 2nd current 5 Million dollar legislative appropriation will continue to cover salaries and
supplements for the next 2 years, to close the over $20,000 gap between CoN and other nursing
salaries and to sustain the large BSN enrollment and the work of the Smart Hospital™.
As a consequence of growth in enrollment, we have restructured our internal space, making it
possible for additional advisors, staff and faculty to have offices. We now also house a
Genomics Translational Research Lab within the College that is rare in nursing programs
nationally.
Because so many of our students are adults, with family responsibilities, we continually work to
ensure that our programs allow for learning within the larger context of each student’s life. This
requires that we provide classes in the evenings and weekends, use Distance Education and
simulation technology, and provide resources to the faculty so that they learn how to best adapt
teaching strategies to students’ needs and educational requirements.
The Faculty has many resources not available in other nursing programs around the country.
For example, we have a 50% Distance Education Director who assisted the faculty and staff with
transitioning to Blackboard. In addition, an Assistant to the Dean for Faculty Development
offers many tailored programs to meet the needs of new and long term faculty related to teaching
and scholarship. Faculty has the support of staff in the Learning Resource Center to assist them
to use state- of- the- science media technology such as Camptasia and Echo. The Center for
Nursing Research, a Writing Coach, the Smart Hospital™ and other simulation resources such as
the Second Life platform have been available with a Data Manager soon to be hired. In
addition, we have a budget manager and assistant who ensures that faculty receive timely
reimbursement for travel to clinical sites and travel for professional presentations. New roles
such as Student Success Coordinator, AP Coordinator, 50% Coordinator for faculty orientation
and a team of faculty/staff in the Smart Hospital™ have been added to facilitate student learning,
research and product development and testing.
Nursing as a clinically based profession, requires that we negotiate and manage the use of
student clinical placements within over 90 health care agencies in the Metroplex as well as with
hospitals in Houston, San Antonio and beyond for our AP BSN program. We have 309
affiliation agreements with agencies to ensure that our students can meet all health care agency
requirements and have timely and quality learning experiences. Our graduate NP Program has
affiliation agreements not only in Texas but also in other states to accommodate the practice
needs of the nurse practitioner students. This is a major challenge within a large Metroplex that
includes over 16 North Texas nursing programs as well external programs competing for the best
student learning experiences. Our AP RN-BSN Program is affiliated with 278 Texas Hospitals,
over 90 in other states and we have agreements with 15 Community Colleges related to our
Professional Pathway ADN to BSN program. This new program will result in ADN graduates
having a seamless transition to UTA shortly after graduation and our helping to achieve the
national goal of 80% BSN prepared graduates by 2020.
Development/Fundraising
One of the growing aspects of my role over the last 5 years has been to become actively involved
in development efforts. Priority areas are student scholarships, professorships and chairs, and
targeted donations that assist in meeting the strategic plan of the College overall and its faculty
specifically.
Over the past five years, we have continued to build our endowments and raised funds for
Dream Makers scholarships resulting in over $1,400,000 raised since the inception of the
program in 2002. In the last 5 years we increased the number of endowments from 19 to 55,
have a new Baylor Health Research Professorship and have doubled the funding in the Hazel Jay
Professorship. The total market value of the CoN endowments has increased from $1,037,000 in
FY ’06 to $2,687,000 in FY’11 with the total value of donations$4,529,000 in these 5 years.
The most recent funding achievement is our first endowed chair, The Moritz Chair in Geriatrics.
Non Academic programs
The College of Nursing has transitioned to working collaboratively with Department of
Enterprise Development to provide oversight to the (CNE) Continuing Nursing Education
program.
In addition, the Rural Health Outreach Program continues to be focused on continuing education
of rural health care providers using grant funds as well as a special state line-item .
We are now in the planning stages of starting a PreNursing High School Academy in 3 high
schools: North Side in Fort Worth, Arlington HS and Molina HS in Dallas. The plan has been
received with excitement and we will start the first group of 100- 9th graders- in Fall of 2013.
Faculty has received an overview of the details and will have opportunities for mentoring and
other areas of involvement.
The college’s Center for Hispanic Studies in Nursing and Health has a long history of providing
educational programs and collaborative projects that enhance the cultural sensitivity of health
care professional and competent care to patients of Hispanic origin.
The Genomics Translational Research Lab (GTRL) enhances student and faculty knowledge of
genetics/genomics and provides the collaborative expertise, space and equipment for genomicsrelated research.
The Smart Hospital™ is international recognized and is viewed as an asset to the University and
the community. The more than 2500 individuals touring the facility annually attest to its
generating continuing interest in both the public and professionals. We have offered not only
important educational experiences to our students but also simulation training to regional
colleagues who learn best practices that can be used in their own settings. The Smart Hospital™
has met one of its important goals which is to provide a research setting to establish educational
best practices and health care products.
Collaboration and communication
The Metroplex community and more widely communities throughout Texas know about the
College of Nursing’s reputation of excellence and often identify us with having the state -of -the
-science Smart Hospital™. We have a number of community advisory groups that help us plan
and evaluate our programs and outcomes. In addition, we work closely with our health care
service colleagues to ensure that our students are prepared to enter the workforce immediately
after completion of their programs as “newly hired graduates of choice”. We have a reputation
for collaboration and many other nursing programs throughout the state and nation seek our
consultation and help. We believe in sharing resources and knowledge and have benefited from
this open exchange of information as well as from collaborative research endeavors.
While our faculty salaries have not increased as desired, faculty can augment their salaries using
a number of faculty practice options. Faculty can earn additional salary one day a week though a
variety of mechanisms that benefited both the faculty and the college. One example is the
Research Facilitator role in one of the area’s first hospitals designated as having “Magnet” status.
Individual needs also must be dealt with in a College with 6000 students, 140 faculty members
(and an additional 75 part time clinical faculty members in the BSN programs) and the staff who
are integral in working toward our goals. Active management of concerns and issues and an
open door policy encourage students, faculty and staff to engage in candid discussions to find
fair responses to problems. I believe that my interpersonal relationship strengths have been an
asset to not only students but also the faculty and staff and community support. I hope that
those who read this report agree and that my leadership influences the positive working
relationships and collegial environment within the College.
Effective Communication and my ability to establish positive long-term relationships with
business, community, and political leaders have benefited the college over the years. I have
strategically included key leaders in all areas of the community in our various centers and
programs. I have spoken at most of the local service club meetings about nursing and our
programs and the assets of these programs to the community as a whole. Marketing, using press
releases, personal presentations and attendance at as many business and public meetings as
possible have resulted in the College and its programs being well known to the community and
viewed as a major asset to the University.
I have become known, not only locally but also within the University of Texas system, for
effectively chairing and working in groups and achieving consensus. I have been privileged to
serve on a number of invited Board of Nursing regulatory committees and most recently chaired
the workgroup to revise and disseminate the entry level competencies of LVN, ADN and BSN
graduates, a document that is used by all 100 nursing programs in Texas. A wide range of
external leadership and professional service efforts has resulted in my broadened scope of
knowledge that has been applied to benefit the College. My CV is highlighted for you to see the
last 5 years of activities related to Boards of Directors, committees and other community, health
care and professional organizations locally, regionally, and nationally. In additional, I have
supported our faculty to be engaged in activities that further their goals and activities and bring
credit and visibility to the College. Faculty honors are important, and I have supported faculty
with personal nominations resulting in Great 100, Health Care Hero, Bayada Simulation and
other awards on an annual basis.
It has been a joy and honor to serve as Dean over the past 16 years. I believe that having the
support of the University and faculty has been the result of many factors: open communication,
transparency, commitment and work with excellent outcomes, and balancing attention to details
while not micromanaging are some of the key factors. I welcome this coming evaluation and can
commit to another 5 years that will no doubt have its challenges and successes. As a team of
faculty, staff and community supporters, it is our collective dedication and work that will ensure
that our students have the best education possible and that our citizens can rely on the finest
nursing graduates in the county.