Nursing search still ongoing

A search committee is still looking for a replacement for Nursing School Dean Claire Fagin, who is scheduled to step down from her post in August. But as Fagin's August 31 resignation date comes closer, Associate Dean for Nursing Research Barbara Lowery, who is chairing the search committee, said she had no progress to announce in the search. Fagin, who plans to stay on through the school's August graduation, declined to comment on how long she would actually be willing to remain dean of the school should a replacement not be found by then, saying only that her answer might be "harmful" to the search. While Fagin will assume the presidency of the National League of Nursing when she steps down as dean, she has no plans to leave the University or go on sabbatical. Instead, Fagin said in January that she will remain as a professor at the school and may return to being a clinician. Provost Michael Aiken said that the search was going "well," but he could neither offer a timetable for when a new dean would be chosen or say how long Fagin would remain as dean. He said that in trying to "attract an outstanding woman" to the position, the University is looking at some "very good candidates." Aiken praised Fagin for her accomplishments as dean of the Nursing School for the last 14 years, expressing regret that she decided to leave. "[She has had] good relationships with faculty . . . with students . . . and the rest of the University," he said Friday. "I would love to have her stay on." Fagin announced her intention to step down as dean last May.

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