Nursing administrator and professor Joyce Thompson will officially retire from the University next June after 23 years of service at Penn.
An associate dean of graduate and professional studies, Thompson plans on returning to her home state of Michigan to be with family.
She will also undertake an endowed professorship at the Western Michigan University Bronson School of Nursing, effective Aug. 6, 2002. As the Geraldine M. Lacey Professor of Community Health Nursing, she will bring her expertise to the relatively new nursing school.
Associate Professor Anne Keane has been named interim associate dean and will start filling the position in January.
Thompson's absence leaves another position open in the Nursing school, following the departure of former Undergraduate Dean Linda Brown. The University is currently searching for permanent replacement for Brown.
Last week, the University ended a 16-month search to find a new dean following former Nursing Dean Norma Lang's departure in May 2000. Afaf Meleis of the University of California-San Francisco will take over as permanent dean.
Because of Thompson's involvement in numerous programs, her departure presents multiple vacancies. Thompson and Interim Dean Neville Strumpf have developed a plan to ensure a smooth transition from one leader to the next.
"All players [involved in the transition] are known and all are very good," Thompson said.
While at Penn, Thompson started the Nurse Midwifery Program, the only such program in Pennsylvania at the time. It was this program that brought her to Penn.
Thompson will remain in her role as a consultant to the World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Nursing and Midwifery, which will now be led by Lang. Western Michigan will also join the Penn Nursing Collaborating Center, and with Thompson serving as the school's affiliate, she will continue to be able to work with her Penn colleagues.
She will also continue to direct and teach in the Teacher Education Program through May 2003.
"The feeling I've always had, and the feeling that has kept me here, is that Penn is good for, with and to me," Thompson said of her time at Penn. "My career has expanded because of the opportunities provided to me by being a professor at the University."
When Thompson retires in June, she will receive emeritus status.
