The General Assembly recently passed a resolution by unanimous voice vote to commend Nursing School Dean Jeanette Lancaster, who will retire this summer after 19 years of service to the University.
According to the resolution the Nursing School has improved its national ranking to stand among the top five percent of nursing schools in the country under Lancaster's watch.
"Through her leadership, her vision and her uncompromising standards for both education and nursing practice, she has raised the Nursing School to be a national leader in teaching, research and the care of patients," said Nursing Prof. Valentina Brashers, a longtime colleague of Lancaster.
Lancaster described how she mentors students, noting "today's students are going to be confronted with and offered opportunities that others of us have never had, and instead of being afraid, I encourage them not to say 'I can't' or 'I don't know how' until they have exhausted all efforts to learn how."
Lancaster herself had the chance to break new ground while at the University; she noted that when she arrived at the University in 1989 she "was the only woman dean and there were very few women in senior administrative positions."
As Lancaster prepares to depart, the Nursing School is at a turning point, with new facilities under construction to house record enrollment numbers, a new master's degree program and a new doctorate of nursing practice program. According to Brashers, "the Nursing School was not well-known prior to [Lancaster's] tenure," and Lancaster took on responsibilities of high-level administrative decision-making.
"Her ability to make stakeholders fully appreciate the value of nursing education has most recently taken the tangible form of the new state-of-the-art Claude Moore Nursing School," Brashers added.
Lancaster said she prefers to retire while people "envision [her] still racing around getting money for the school," adding that she remembers her first dean saying, "Let me retire before they wish I was gone."
During her time at the University, Lancaster has accrued a number of honors, including being named Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing. This first endowed professorship in nursing is an honor she received from working with nurses throughout Virginia.
Outside of the University community, Lancaster also is finishing the end of a two-year term as president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing this spring.
"In service to the nation, [Lancaster] has informed state and national legislatures and the public about the expanding and crucial role of nursing and nursing education in improving the nation's health and has moved nursing into the center of health care reform," Brashers said.
According to Lancaster, a national search for a replacement dean will bring five candidates to the University this month, but a decision will not be made until later this spring. Brashers said Lancaster's accomplishments have led the Nursing School to attract applicants who want to come to the University because of Lancaster's outstanding work.
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