After 16 months without a permanent dean, the Nursing School yesterday named Afaf Meleis as its new leader.
Former dean Norma Lang stepped down from the school's top spot last May to return to teaching, and Gerontology Professor Neville Strumpf signed on as Nursing Dean on an interim basis in June 2000.
In a joint statement, University President Judith el and Provost Robert Barchi praised Meleis' strong background.
"She has an international reputation as a nurse and medical sociologist, and she is ideally suited to attract even more prominence to our School of Nursing, which is already a recognized leader in its field," Rodin and Barchi said.
Strumpf will continue to serve in her current capacity until January, when Meleis formally takes the reins.
"The Nursing School has done a lot over the last year to plan strategically for the future," said Graduate School of Education Dean Susan Fuhrman, who headed the search committee for a permanent Nursing dean. "Dr. Meleis will push that process further forward and [the school] will be able to accomplish terrific things under her leadership."
The search committee, which has been working since last summer, presented a list of four candidates, including one internal candidate, to Rodin and Barchi. The two interviewed the finalists and eventually selected Meleis from among them.
Fuhrman declined to specify who the internal candidate was.
"Any one of the people we recommended would make good choices," Fuhrman said. Meleis "is a very impressive person, with an excellent background and distinguished research. She is very visionary and charismatic."
During her role as interim dean of the Nursing School, Strumpf continued her work in the area of elder care.
"We are truly grateful to her for her commitment to Penn and to the School of Nursing," Rodin and Barchi said in their statement.
Strumpf was also praised for her "outstanding contributions and leadership."
"From what I gather, [Meleis] will bring wonderful experience and she is a prominent person in the profession," Nursing Professor Linda Brown said. "Anytime anyone comes in from the outside new ideas flow into the system. I think she will bring some exciting people with her and I am excited about that."
Meleis will join Penn following a 21-year-tenure at the University of California-San Francisco. She was a professor in the Department of Community Health Systems in the School of Nursing, and an associate in nursing for the Nursing Service. Not only is she a prominent medical sociologist, but Meleis has also served on numerous boards and committees and has written for multiple publications.
Currently, Meleis is vice president of the International Council on Women's Health.
A native of Egypt, Meleis holds a nursing degree from the University of Alexandria. She then came to the United States to pursue graduate education as a Rockefeller Fellow at the University of California-Los Angeles.
Meleis could not be reached for comment yesterday.
