Baylor Announces Karen J. Foli, Ph.D., as Inaugural Louise Herrington Endowed Chair in Mental Health Nursing

Contact: Whitney Cortner, Louise Herrington School of Nursing, 720-438-9380
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Baylor University has announced the appointment of Karen J. Foli, Ph.D., RN, ANEF, FAAN, as the inaugural Louise Herrington Endowed Chair in Mental Health Nursing, the first endowed chair position in the history of Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON). She comes to Baylor from the Purdue University School of Nursing and will begin her tenure with the LHSON on Aug. 1.

An established researcher in the mental health of adoptive and kinship parents, as well as nurses’ psychological traumas, Foli brings to the LHSON significant extramural funding and publications that demonstrate her commitment to education and mentorship. She also will work collaboratively with researchers at the LHSON and in Schools and Colleges across Baylor, including the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, School of Education, Hankamer School of Business the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences.

“During my interviews and in interactions with Provost (Nancy) Brickhouse, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Dr. (DeAnna) Toten Beard and Dean (Linda) Plank, I knew Baylor was a place that valued faith, knowledge and expertise,” Foli said. “I believe I can add value at this exciting time for Baylor University as it builds research expertise as an R1 university. I have learned so much about scholarship and its many forms over the past two decades. Some of this learning was trial and error, and moving forward, I hope to support faculty conveying a sense of community and mentorship.

"Baylor University and the LHSON have many strengths to build upon, especially its Christian values and roots, and with those resources and processes in mind, I am thrilled to be joining Baylor University," Foli added.

Supporting innovative teaching and research

The Louise Herrington Endowed Chair in Mental Health Nursing was established by Russell and Esther Rogers through a $1.5 million gift from the family of the School’s namesake, Louise Herrington Ornelas, with matching support through the Give Light Campaign’s Illuminate Chair Matching Program. The endowed chair was created to support innovative research and teaching within the LHSON, with a special focus on the areas of mental and behavioral health research, including the need for more mental health professionals.

“Dr. Karen Foli is a seasoned researcher who has focused her work on some of the most challenging problem areas in nursing,” Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., said. “I have tremendous respect for the work she has done and will continue to do as the inaugural Louise Herrington Endowed Chair in Mental Health Nursing – both within the School of Nursing and across the University more broadly.”

In addition to her research, teaching and leadership, Foli’s endowed chair is a complementary position to the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner track within the LHSON Doctor of Nursing Practice graduate degree online program. That track launched in August 2023 to prepare registered nurses to become PMHNPs to address the mental and behavioral needs of individuals and help solve the critical shortage of mental health care providers.

“We are so pleased that Dr. Karen Foli will be joining us in the fall after an extensive search for the most qualified person to complement this new role. We look forward to her working collaboratively with Baylor colleagues and the global community to bolster this vital new program track,” said LHSON Dean Linda Plank, Ph.D., RN, NEA-BC.

The science of nursing

Foli has devoted much of her career to alleviating the suffering caused by psychological trauma and preparing nurses to explore and build upon the science of nursing. Through the lens of psychological trauma, Foli has received funding to support research focused on depression in adoptive parents, trauma-informed parenting for kinship parents, and relationships between trauma and substance use in nurses. 

As a nurse theorist and active researcher, she conceptualized and disseminated a Middle Range Theory of Nurses’ Psychological Trauma that revealed a new type of nurse-specific trauma, insufficient resource trauma, which calls for efforts at the organizational level. She is co-author of The Influence of Psychological Trauma in Nursing, which received two American Journal of Nursing/Wolters Kluwer Book of the Year Awards in 2019 in the categories of psychiatric/mental health nursing and nursing education.

Through her appointment as The Herrington Chair, Foli plans to continue novel research and theory testing, especially surrounding psychological trauma, substance use in nurses, substance use education for nursing students, as well as adoptive/kinship/foster families’ mental health. She also will support new and early investigators at the LHSON, with a focus on those conducting research in the mental health area, while building interdisciplinary collaborations with other scholars at Baylor.

“I am a nurse first and foremost and the professional identity that I embrace is to help others, which also aligns with my Christianity,” Foli said. “My research findings aim to improve quality of life and reduce suffering. To be given this opportunity is something I am incredibly grateful for because I see it as a way of serving others.”

Foli is an active mentor and was recognized by Purdue with numerous awards, including the Faculty Engagement Fellow Award from Purdue’s Office of Engagement, Graduate Level Excellence in Mentoring, Trailblazer Award for Outstanding Midcareer Research and Scholarship and induction into the Purdue University Book of Great Teachers. Prior to joining the LHSON, Foli served on the Purdue nursing faculty for 16 years. Her distinguished – and varied – career also includes as an author and life sciences writer, visiting lecturer for Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, senior scientific communications associate with the oncology platform team at Eli Lilly & Co., and assistant professor at the University of Indianapolis 

She also is involved with several professional organizations as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the Academy of Nursing Education and as a member of the American Nurses Association, National League for Nursing and American Psychiatric Nurses Association.

Foli earned her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Healthcare Communications, a Master of Science in Nursing from Indiana University with an emphasis in Nursing Administration and competed Bachelor of Science and Associate degrees in nursing from Indiana State University.

Honoring a family’s legacy of impact

In fall 1999, Louise Herrington Ornelas made a $13 million endowment gift to the Baylor School of Nursing, at the time the third-largest gift from an individual in the University’s history. In recognition of her long and generous support of the nursing program, the School was named the Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON). In April 2015, another lead gift by Ms. Lou – as she was known to her friends at LHSON – made possible the purchase of the Baptist General Convention of Texas building in Dallas for use as the new academic home for Baylor’s LHSON.

The facility, dedicated in August 2018, was renamed the Louise Herrington School of Nursing Academic Building, adding 100,000 square feet of space for Baylor nursing students to strengthen their preparation for successful careers and for faculty to teach and conduct life-changing research in the health and nursing fields. The building is adjacent to the LHSON’s longtime campus – which now focuses exclusively on clinical practice and simulation laboratories for nursing students and faculty – as well as Baylor University Medical Center and more than 150 professional nursing practice sites in Dallas-area communities.

Although Ms. Lou passed away in 2018, her family has continued to maintain ties to LHSON, as their family’s scholarships, endowment and resourcing continues to impact each class of Baylor nurses who pass through the doors of the Louise Herrington School of Nursing Academic Building. Ms. Lou, whose aspirations of becoming a nurse were never realized because of family responsibilities, developed a passion for supporting nursing education across Texas. Over the years, Ms. Lou’s connection to Baylor deepened, with her visits becoming an anticipated high point for students and faculty alike.

Her family continues Ms. Lou’s generous support and legacy of opening doors for Baylor nurses through their gift of the Herrington Chair, as well as their previously established scholarships, another area of giving which gave Ms. Lou joy. She was proud to have started a family legacy tied to Baylor as her love for the University has permeated multiple generations.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY LOUISE HERRINGTON SCHOOL OF NURSING

The Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) located in Dallas, Texas, was established in 1909 as a diploma program within Baylor Hospital in Dallas, which is now Baylor Scott & White Health’s Baylor University Medical Center, and in 1950 became one of the six degree-granting schools of Baylor University. The first Baccalaureate degrees were granted in 1952, establishing the School among the earliest baccalaureate nursing programs in Texas. In 1999, the School was renamed the Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing after Louise Herrington Ornelas, a 1992 Baylor Alumna Honoris Causa, who made an endowment gift to the School. The LHSON offers Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degrees through Traditional, FastBacc® (one-year accelerated) and Distance Accelerated BSN programs. Plus, the LHSON offers an online Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program with tracks that include Family Nurse Practitioner, Nurse-Midwifery, Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Executive Nurse Leadership and U.S. Army Anesthesia Nursing (USAGPAN). U.S. News & World Report 2024 Best Undergraduate Nursing Programs ranked the LHSON No. 31. In addition, U.S. News 2024-2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings list several LHSON programs, including the DNP program at No. 66 nationally and “Best Nursing” specialty rankings for LHSON’s USAGPAN, which operates at the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, at No. 2 nationally, and Baylor’s Nurse-Midwifery program, which is No. 22 in the nation. To learn more, visit the School of Nursing website.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.