MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Tara F. Hulsey, Ph.D., R.N., C.N.E., F.A.A.N., dean and professor at Charleston (S.C.) Southern University College of Nursing and Allied Health, has been named dean of the West Virginia University School of Nursing.
Dr. Hulsey is also an adjunct faculty member in the Colleges of Medicine and Nursing at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Hulsey was selected by WVU Chancellor Christopher Colenda, M.D., M.P.H., following a national search. She is expected to begin her new role at the WVU Health Sciences Center August 1.
“The members of the search committee and the faculty, staff, and students who had the opportunity to meet her during the course of the nationwide search for a dean for the School were impressed with her work, her energy, and her successes,” Dr. Colenda said. “I truly believe that she will build upon the great achievements that the School of Nursing has accomplished in the past 50 years and expand opportunities for our students, our faculty, and our staff.”
Colenda also expressed his gratitude and deep appreciation for the work of the search committee, led by Dean Joyce McConnell of the WVU College of Law, and for the dedicated service of Interim Dean Betty Shelton, Ph.D., R.N., and the rest of the School’s leadership team. Dr. Shelton has served the WVU School of Nursing as interim dean since late 2012.
Under Hulsey’s leadership, the nursing program at Charleston Southern saw its enrollment triple. With 15 years of experience in a top academic health science center, Hulsey has assisted in building a strong research focus, developing and implementing doctoral and master’s programs, and leading faculty development initiatives.
In her seven years as dean at Charleston Southern, new undergraduate and graduate programs have been developed and implemented, accompanied by a $4 million building expansion and transition from a school of nursing to a college of nursing and allied health, including programs in health promotion, kinesiology, athletic training, and physical education. She was recently elected to the international board of directors of Sigma Theta Tau, the honor society for nursing.
With a practice and research specialty in perinatal nursing, Hulsey has served as a curriculum consultant in the United States and China. She has held numerous leadership roles at the local, state, national, and international levels, including as the chair of Sigma Theta Tau International’s United Nations and Global Health Advisory Council and as a governor-appointed member of the South Carolina Board of Nursing.
