Meredith Wallace Kazer, Ph.D., APRN, FAAN, an esteemed professor of nursing and associate dean of Fairfield University's School of Nursing, has been appointed to a two-year term as dean of the school. A New Haven, Conn., resident, Dr. Kazer is an award-winning researcher who is also an adult and gerontological primary care nurse practitioner.

Dr. Kazer will begin her tenure as dean June 16, 2014. Lynn Babington, Ph.D., RN, dean of the School of Nursing since 2012, was recently named Fairfield University's new senior vice president of academic affairs. The appointments come as the School of Nursing experiences expansion in both enrollment and in nationwide reputation as one of the premier nursing schools in the country.

Dr. Kazer will oversee a nursing school that has respected faculty who are clinical experts in patient care, state-of-the-art resources, and array of graduate programs preparing future nursing leaders. Dr. Kazer has served the School of Nursing over the past two years as associate dean and graduate program director. "In these roles, she led us through successful Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) accreditations of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program," said Dr. Babington. "She worked to increase graduate enrollments and has been awarded over a million dollars in grant funding. Her career spanning focus on improving the quality of life of older adults has resulted in numerous patient-centered interventions."

Dr. Kazer's work has been disseminated in ten books, over 70 peer-reviewed journal publications, 26 book chapters, and over 100 research and invited presentations. She currently maintains a practice in Connecticut with a focus on chronic illness in older adults, clinical experience that informs her scholarly work. She was awarded the Connecticut Nurse Association Virginia Henderson Award for Outstanding Contributions to Nursing Research. Dr. Kazer received the Springer Publishing Company Award for Applied Nursing Research and four American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Awards. In addition, she is the recipient of the Eastern Nursing Research Society/John A. Hartford Foundation junior investigator award and in, 2011, was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Nursing, an appointment reserved for nurse leaders at the forefront of the profession nationwide.

Dr. Kazer holds a baccalaureate in nursing from Boston University, a master's of science in nursing from Yale University, and a Ph.D. from New York University.

Image: Dr. Meredith Wallace Kazer, a Fairfield University School of Nursing faculty member from New Haven, Conn., has been named dean of the school.

Posted On: 06-08-2014 03:06 PM

Volume: 46 Number: 319