With votes cast by member deans and directors from the nation’s schools of nursing with baccalaureate and higher degree programs, Dean Leuner will help lead the AACN in advancing the goals of professional nursing education and research. She joins other top leaders from nursing programs at Marquette University, the University of Cincinnati, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, University of California-San Francisco, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and Texas A&M Health Science Center on this national board.
“As the national voice for baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, AACN is at the forefront of transforming how nurses are being educated and how patient care is being delivered,” said AACN President Jane Kirschling. “We welcome the new and returning members to the board who will help to steer this important work and provide the leadership needed to take the organization to new heights.”
Currently chair of the AACN’s program committee, Dr. Leuner has been very active in the association serving as chair of the faculty development working group, a grassroots liaison for the State of Florida, and as a mentor to new deans. Her leadership roles outside the organization extend to serving as a member of the Franklin Pierce University Board of Trustees, member of the Board of Trustees for the Winter Park Health Foundation, former chapter president of the Florida Association of Colleges of Nursing, and former president of the Theta Epsilon chapter for the nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau International. She is also a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, one of the most prestigious honors in the field of nursing.