I am pleased to announce the next Dean of the Faculty of Nursing, effective July 1, 2017. On Friday, March 17, the Board of Governors approved the appointment of Dr. Greta Cummings for a five year term. Dr. Cummings joined the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta 13 years ago, becoming a full professor in 2010. She currently holds a Centennial Professorship (2013–2020), one of our university’s highest honours.
Dr. Cummings is a nationally and internationally recognized researcher in nursing leadership to improve outcomes for healthcare staff and patients. She holds a BNSc from Queen’s University, in addition to her MEd (Admin) from the Faculty of Education and PhD in the Faculty of Nursing, both from the University of Alberta. She was named to the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame by the Sigma Theta Tau International Honour Society of Nursing in 2015 and is a fellow of both the American Academy of Nursing and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 2014, Thomson Rueters named her Highly Cited Researcher — Social Sciences.
She has led numerous multi- and inter-disciplinary initiatives as a healthcare administrator, academic health systems researcher, and health services workforce consultant. Since joining the faculty of the University of Alberta in 2004, Dr. Cummings has studied, taught, and led large teams implementing strategic initiatives in a wide-range of areas, including leadership, organizational change, models of health care delivery, program planning, interdisciplinary transitions in care delivery, governance, legislation, and workforce trends. She believes that the best interdisciplinary programs consist of strong disciplines who are confident in their contributions to the overall team’s mission and respectful and supportive of others’ contributions.
Over the course of her career, she has been responsible for managing large clinical programs across numerous healthcare facilities, and negotiating collective agreements from both the employer and staff representative perspectives. She was the Registrar of the Alberta Association of Registered Nurses (now CARNA) from 1997 to 2000. In addition, she served as President of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care (2010–2014) and board member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2012–2014), and the CIHR Institute Advisory Board for Research Excellence, Ethics and Policy (2016–2020).
Dr. Cummings also brings extensive international and national leadership experience. As a member of the board of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care (2008–2016) and Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology (2003–2007), she was involved in leading strategic planning and operational initiatives, including the development of new governance structures. Through this work, she has developed excellent relationship building skills, working with committees of experts, global partners, funding agencies, foundations, and multi-disciplinary associations to build synergies on mutual interests and organizational goals. She looks forward to building our Faculty of Nursing’s vision of global citizenship which to date has focused on Ghana, Brazil, and Thailand.
I would like to thank Dr. Anita Molzahn for her excellent service as Dean of the Faculty of Nursing since 2008. Under her leadership, the Faculty of Nursing has affirmed and extended its position as one of the best in Canada and the world.
My thanks to the members of the Dean Selection Committee for their hard work and commitment as well as those of you who participated in the selection process.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Cummings on her appointment.
Steven Dew
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)