Leslie Olmstead Schulz

New executive dean to lead growing
NAU health profession offerings

Northern Arizona University has brought a new executive dean on board to lead the effort to become the institution in the state for educating health professionals.

Leslie Olmstead Schulz, who most recently directed a Health Education and Research Team project and was dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso, will take the helm as executive dean for NAU's new College of Health and Human Services, effective Nov. 30.

Schulz brings almost 25 years experience as a health-care provider, researcher and manager to navigate NAU through its current growth and statewide expansion of its health-care education offerings.

"The opportunities at NAU are very exciting," Schulz said. "My goal is to lead NAU in its response to the state's need for health professionals."

Northern Arizona University recently realigned its health-care educational offerings by combining NAU's schools of nursing and Health Professions into the new college. The realignment is to strengthen its ability to respond to the growing need for more health-care professionals in the state.

"Adding a new executive dean and increasing our reach through the addition of new faculty will enable the College of Health and Human Services to respond more quickly to health-care programming needs in Arizona and enhance its competitiveness," said NAU President John Haeger.

He said Schulz's proven track record of managing collaborative efforts will assist the university as it continues working with the University of Arizona and Arizona State University to provide high-quality, affordable degree programs in the health professions at the new academic medical center in Phoenix.

"We are looking forward to Dr. Schulz's expertise to help us answer the call from the governor, the Legislature, the Arizona Board of Regents and Arizona citizens to address the critical shortage of health-care professionals that is not being met by any other public institution in the state," said Liz Grobsmith, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.

The university also plans to build its Distance Learning programs for health professionals. Currently, students can complete their bachelor's degree in nursing by attending NAU classes in-person, online or via interactive TV. They can complete their clinicals at a variety of sites throughout the state, including Tucson Medical Center, Flagstaff Medical Center, at Navajo Nation sites and more.

"We want to anticipate the future health-care needs in Arizona and prepare students to meet those needs," Schulz said.

NAU hopes to enhance the state funding to go the next step and create new programs in such areas as occupational therapy, physician assistant, biomedical sciences and clinical lab sciences.

At UTEP, Schulz consolidated community partnerships in a unified approach to prevent and control cardiovascular disease in the U.S.-Mexico border area. From 2004-06, Schulz was dean of the UTEP College of Health Sciences, a position that included responsibility for stimulating research and managing $8 million in funding with more than 100 faculty and staff and 2,200 students.

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 doctoral program in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Prior to becoming dean at UTEP, Schulz spent 21 years affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she began as an assistant professor and rose through the ranks to associate vice chancellor.

Schulz received her doctorate degree in nutritional biochemistry from Cornell University, a master's degree in nutrition from North Dakota State University and a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of North Dakota.