Georgia Southern University Names Jean Bartels, Ph.D., RN, CNL Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

June 13, 2012

Georgia Southern University President Brooks Keel, Ph.D. has named Jean Bartels, Ph.D., RN, CNL provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Georgia Southern University. Bartels, who will serve a three-year appointment, will begin her new role on July 1, 2012.

Since April 2011, Bartels has served as the dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia Southern. She earlier served as interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs from July 2010 to April 2011.  Earlier, she served as chair of Georgia Southern’s School of Nursing from 1999 to 2010 where she led the Nursing program to a level of national prominence documented by its consistent ranking by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top schools of nursing in the country.

“I am excited to appoint Jean Bartels to this important position at Georgia Southern University.  She has earned the respect of her colleagues and is a highly-sought consultant on curriculum and higher education across the nation.  She has risen through the faculty ranks and has demonstrated an impressive commitment to our students,” said Keel.  “I am confident that Jean has the knowledge, talents, and drive that will be needed in her new role.”

In addition to the administrative positions she has held at Georgia Southern, her service to the University has included being elected as Chair of the Council of Deans, Chair of the Institutional Strategic Planning Committee, member of the President’s Task Force on Online Programs, and member of the President’s Task Force on Program Review.

“I am honored to be selected as Georgia Southern University’s next provost and vice president for Academic Affairs,” said Bartels.  “I look forward to working with Georgia Southern’s extraordinary administrators, faculty and staff as we continue to move the University to its next level of excellence and accomplishment in teaching, scholarship, and service to all of our communities of interest.”

Bartels has served as President of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, an organization that represents more than 600 schools of nursing across the country and is the most influential entity in higher education for nursing.  Additionally, she has given testimony to the Sullivan Committee, chaired by the former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  In her scholarly efforts, she has published more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, co-authored a book, and written at least three key white papers on higher education.  She has been recognized for several fellowships, including one from the National Institutes of Health.

Prior to joining Georgia Southern, she served as the Chair of Nursing at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wis. from 1990 to1999 and worked as a staff nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Columbia Hospital in Milwaukee. She earned a Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Master of Science in Nursing from Marquette University, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Alverno College and a Diploma in Nursing from the Columbia Hospital School of Nursing.  She is a pastrecipient of the Sister Bernadette Armiger Award, the highest honor given by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).

Her practice and research experiences have focused on community-based nursing practice and education as well as the health care needs of individuals responding to chronic illnesses including those experiencing acute neurological, cardiovascular, and respiratory impairments.  She has also conducted research in a variety of nursing practice and higher education areas.  Most recently, her scholarship has focused on teaching, learning, critical thinking and outcome assessment in nursing education. Her current research and writing activities focus on the development and measurement of teaching, learning, and assessment outcomes in nursing and higher education.  She has served on the educational policies committees, discipline deans committees, curriculum committees, strategic planning councils, and research and assessment councils at Alverno College and Georgia Southern.  She has taught theory and clinical practice in all areas of the nursing curriculum.