Dr. Eileen Breslin from UTHSC San Antonio Assumes Presidency of AACN
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 24, 2014 – Eileen Breslin, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and professor of the School of Nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) San Antonio was elected to serve a two-year term as president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Dr. Breslin assumed the presidency at AACN’s 2014 Spring Business Meeting held in Washington, D.C. earlier today.
“Preparing the next generation of nurses to be thought leaders is critical to ushering in meaningful change at the highest levels of health care and higher education,” said Dr. Breslin. “As AACN’s President, I am looking forward to answering this call by working closely with member schools, staff, and all stakeholders to shape future AACN initiatives that advance leadership in nursing education, research, and practice.”
Dr. Breslin began her career in academia at Northern Arizona University, where she served as an assistant professor, tenured professor, and chair of the Department of Nursing from 1989 through 1998. She then moved to the University of Massachusetts–Amherst, where she served as dean of the School of Nursing for 10 years and interim dean for the School of Public Health & Health Sciences for 3 years. In 2008, Dr. Breslin joined the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio as Dean of the School of Nursing, and she also holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor in Public Health at the San Antonio Regional Campus of the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston.
Dr. Breslin, whose personal career interests include women’s health and public health nursing, led a number of major initiatives during her nine years as dean at UMass. She instituted a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, a Clinical Nurse Leader program, and a dual Master of Science and Master of Public Health program ? all firsts in Massachusetts.
In terms of her education, Dr. Breslin received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 1977 from Northern Arizona University and her women’s health care practitioner certification from the University of New Mexico in 1978. She earned her master’s degree in maternal-newborn nursing in 1983 from the University of Arizona, and her PhD in nursing in 1992 from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.
Dr. Breslin’s long-time service on the AACN Board includes the role of President-Elect (2012-2014), Treasurer (2005-2009), Member-at-Large (2001-2005), and member of the Government Affairs Committee (1994-1998). Dr. Breslin also represented AACN at the American Nurses Association Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics, as a member of the AACN/Department of Veterans Affairs Liaison Committee, on the task force that issued AACN’s 1999 position statement titled Violence as a Public Health Problem, and as a State Grassroots Liaison.
Among her many recognitions and awards, Dr. Breslin has been recognized as a Distinguished Practitioner in Nursing by the National Academies of Practice in 2000. Her most recent honors include the National President’s Award from the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and the Sigma Theta Tau Image Maker Award. She is a fellow of both the American Academy of Nursing and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, as well as a Distinguished Practitioner in Nursing of the National Academies of Practice.
Joining Dr. Breslin on the AACN Board of Directors are these continuing and new members: President-Elect Juliann Sebastian from the University of Nebraska Medical Center; Treasurer Margaret Faut Callahan from Marquette University; Secretary Judy Beal from Simmons College; Ann Cary from the University of Missouri-Kansas City; Harriet Feldman from Pace University; Greer Glazer from the University of Cincinnati; Anita Hufft from Valdosta State University; Cynthia McCurren from Grand Valley State University, Patsy Ruchala from the University of Nevada Reno, and David Vlahov from the University of California San Francisco.
To read more about AACN’s 2014 election results, see www.aacn.nche.edu/news/articles/2014/election-results.
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The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the national voice for university and four-year college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 740 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN’s educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor’s- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research, and practice. www.aacn.nche.edu