Catherine Gillis, new dean of the School of Nursing, is set to work on a new Ph.D. program in nursing and the construction of a new nursing facility.
Catherine Gilliss, Duke’s new dean of the School of Nursing, can barely contain her excitement when she describes her vision for the future of nursing at the University.
Holding a photo of herself in a nurse’s starched white cap and blue shirtwaist dress with “DU” embroidered on the collar, Gilliss compares her days at Duke as a nursing major in an undergraduate program on the decline to the rapidly expanding, 32nd-ranked nursing school she hopes to bring to the top 10 within five years.
“My return this time is really thrilling,” said Gilliss, Nursing ’71. “It’s very exciting to come back to my own alma mater at a time when my own alma mater is really ready to break into the top-tier schools. It deserves a place in the top tier, and I’m very confident that we’ll be there in short order.”
Since her August appointment to replace Mary Champagne as nursing dean, Gilliss has transitioned from her most recent appointment at Yale and is set to work on a new Ph.D. program in nursing and the construction of a new nursing facility.
The new degree was approved last December, and Gilliss said it will begin in Fall 2006, shortly after the completion of the building’s construction. The doctorate program will prepare nursing scientists for academic careers while attracting research faculty, grants and publications.
“[At] a place like Duke, where we understand that knowledge can be applied in the service of humanity, a career like nursing makes a lot of sense,” Gilliss said. “Nursing is a knowledge profession.”
While she hopes to strengthen that knowledge through a “trajectories of care” philosophy focused on quality of life issues, Gilliss will also be involved in the major decision-making processes at Duke University Health System. Her appointment as both dean of the nursing school and vice chancellor for nursing affairs will enable Gilliss to “bring academic nursing into the mainstream of the larger health system,” said Elizabeth Clipp, a professor of medicine at the nursing school and a member of the search committee.
“The school of nursing should be a good citizen of the Health System, and that citizenship means that we will partner around innovations to practice,” Gilliss said.
Looking outward, Gilliss already serves on the campus steering committee for the Duke’s Global Health Initiative—a broad-based campaign for global welfare and well-being that the University has set as one of its main priorities.
“The importance of how linked we are globally, what we learn and the wealth of knowledge and research of all we have in this school can be shared with our colleagues in other schools and in other countries,” said Brenda Nevidjon, clinical professor in the School of Nursing. “[Gilliss] brings a very inclusive style of leadership, someone who will be a catalyst to bring the most knowledgeable and the best to the table.”
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