Lee University vice president Debbie Murray announced a major move in Lee's development of a nursing program: the appointment of a new director, Dr. Sara Campbell. Dr. Campbell joined the Lee faculty this month as director of the forthcoming nursing program and a professor of nursing.
Dr. Campbell comes to Lee from the University of South Carolina Aiken where she was professor of nursing and the chief academic officer in the School of Nursing. Prior to that, she was the principal investigator for the Teaching Nursing Home project with Illinois State University-Mennonite College of Nursing. She also served there as interim dean, associate dean, interim director of the undergraduate program and coordinator for student development.
“We were very fortunate to get someone with Dr. Campbell’s experience to lead our new program,” commented Carolyn Dirksen, chairwoman of Lee’s Nursing Task Force. “Her academic preparation and clinical experience are exemplary, but she also brings a personal perspective which is just what we were looking for. We believe she is the perfect person to craft our curriculum and select our faculty and students.”
Dr. Campbell will direct Lee’s nursing program which is projected to begin in the fall of 2014. Lee plans to offer a bachelor of science in nursing to include a twelve-to-eighteen-month track for registered nurses (RN) to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. The nursing school plans to admit 60 news students each year: 40 for the BSN and 20 for the RN to BSN track. The school plans to have 240 students and seven full-time faculty members by 2018.
The unanimous approval earned before a 10-member board of nursing in Nashville, for Lee’s Letter of Intent to begin a nursing program, allowed Lee to move to the next step, hiring a director to develop a proposal for Initial Approval. Dr. Campbell will develop that proposal and recruit additional faculty.
Dr. Campbell has certification in Faith Community Nursing from Western Kentucky University, Nursing Education from Drexel University and Advanced Board Certified Nursing Administration, and is pursuing certification in Spiritual Formation from Lincoln Christian University. She also recently served as dean representative in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
She earned her PhD at Indiana University, an MS at Illinois State University and her BS at Mennonite College of Nursing.