As Northern Arizona University readies to become the top-notch institution for students seeking degrees in the health professions, it has outstanding candidates to lead the effort.
The search for an executive dean to guide the newly created College of Health and Human Services has resulted in three finalists who will interview on the Mountain Campus within the next month.
"Our new executive dean will lead the university's effort to respond to the need for more health-care professionals in the state and will work to enhance NAU's participation in the developing academic medical complex in downtown Phoenix," said Liz Grobsmith, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. "I'm excited about the caliber of the candidates, all of whom have been leaders in their fields."
The Arizona Board of Regents has unanimously approved an organizational realignment at NAU to create a College of Health and Human Services that combined NAU's school of Nursing and Health Professions.
Leslie Olmstead Schulz, project director, HEART (Health Education and Assessment Research Team), University of Texas at El Paso
Schulz's current role includes consolidating community partnerships in a unified approach to prevent and control cardiovascular disease in the U.S.-Mexico border area. From 2004-2006, Schulz was dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso, a position that included responsibility for stimulating research, $8 million funding and more than 100 faculty and staff and 2,200 students. From 2000-2001, she was assistant vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at the university and was responsible for university curriculum, program development and evaluation, academic space and technology.
Schulz managed every aspect of nine academic programs, including the School of Nursing, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Language Pathology, Clinical Laboratory Science, Kinesiology, Health Promotion and a Ph.D. program in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Schulz received her doctorate degree in nutritional biochemistry from Cornell University, a master's degree in nutrition and a bachelor's degree in psychology from North Dakota State University. View resumé.
Randall S. Lambrecht, dean, College of Health Sciences, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and professor, Department of Health Sciences
Lambrecht currently leads a College of Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, a high-research university with more than 28,000 students and 158 degree programs at the baccalaureate, master's and doctoral level. The health sciences college has more than 20 academic programs. During Lambrecht's direction, the college added two doctoral degrees. He was chief academic officer of the college for eight years and fostered increases in faculty and student diversity.
Lambrecht has worked to increase community engagement, student enrollment, graduate degree programs, extramural funding, research and fundraising activities. He managed strategic collaborations among five schools. He worked with congressional leaders and state legislators to secure government support in health sciences, resulting in a $1 million congressionally directed funded Department of Defense project to develop assistive technologies for amputees.
Lambrecht received his doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin Medical School, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology. He received a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School, Department of Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology and a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences. View resumé.
Eileen T. Breslin, interim dean, School of Public Health & Health Sciences, dean and professor, School of Nursing, University of Massachusetts
A graduate and former faculty member of NAU, Breslin's experience includes serving as a Primary Care Health Policy Fellow for the Department of Health and Human Services, which involved multiple disciplinary perspectives. She is about to begin her 10th year of senior administrative and research-extensive experience. Currently, as dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she is in the initial stages of developing a World Health Organization Collaborating Center.
From 2003-2006, Breslin served in dual capacity as dean of Nursing and interim dean of the School of Public Health Sciences, during which time she expanded distance learning and worked toward getting a new building for nursing. She was appointed by former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to serve as a member of the National Advisory Council on Nursing Education and Practice, which advised the secretary and Congress in nursing issues. For the past six years, she has was elected to serve on the board of directors of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, a national voice for nursing education, for which she is treasurer. She also helped bring doctoral education in nursing to the University of Massachusetts.
Breslin received her doctoral degree in nursing from the University of Colorado, her master's in maternal-newborn nursing from the University of Arizona, a certificate for a Women's Health Care Practitioner Program from the University of New Mexico and a bachelor's degree in nursing from Northern Arizona University. View resumé.
