Tanya M. Sudia, Ph.D., Selected as Dean of the Louise Herrington School of Nursing

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Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Tanya M. Sudia, Ph.D., R.N., FNAP, FAAN, has been selected as Dean of Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing, effective June 1. Dr. Sudia will succeed Linda Plank, Ph.D. R.N., NEA-BC, who will retire this summer.

A highly accomplished nursing leader, Dr. Sudia is currently Interim Dean, Chief Nursing Officer and professor at the University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation. Before joining UTA in 2024, she served four years as Dean of Augusta University College of Nursing, the state of Georgia’s largest public university nursing program. A Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and a Fellow of the National Academies of Practice, Dr. Sudia returns to Baylor where she served from 2014-19 as the School’s inaugural Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship and a tenured Professor of Nursing.

“I am delighted to welcome Dr. Tanya Sudia back to Baylor University as Dean of the Louise Herrington School of Nursing,” Provost Brickhouse said. “Dr. Sudia brings successful experience as a nursing dean at two institutions, one of which is in Texas. She knows the profession of nursing very well and is committed to the distinctiveness of the education Baylor provides for nurses. Committed to our mission as a Christian R1 university, Dr. Sudia will be a great partner to campus leaders as well as to healthcare providers in Dallas and throughout Texas.”

“I am honored and blessed to return to Baylor as the next dean of the Louise Herrington School of Nursing,” Dr. Sudia said. “I look forward to continuing the trajectory of notable accomplishments by Dean Plank with an exceptional team of faculty and staff colleagues. Collaboratively, we will develop a bold strategic plan, aligned with our unique Christian R1 institutional mission, to achieve the next level of excellence for the LHSON.”

Provost Brickhouse expressed gratitude for Dean Plank’s leadership of the LHSON during the past five years, noting her support of the growth of Baylor’s undergraduate nursing major and the development of the innovative Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) hybrid program at the LHSON that has reached healthcare systems nationwide, providing them with nurses expertly and compassionately prepared to address patients’ physical, spiritual and social needs.

ABOUT TANYA M. SUDIA, PH.D., R.N., FNAP, FAAN

Dr. Sudia earned her B.S.N. from the University of Akron, and her M.N. and Ph.D. from Emory University. She was a practicing neonatal ICU nurse and transport team member, later becoming a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Neonatal Educator at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. She joined the faculty at Emory, serving in various capacities, including Faculty Fellow in the Center for Ethics and senior director of the IRB Office. Following a long trajectory at Emory, she joined Mercer University’s Georgia Baptist College of Nursing to co-develop a Ph.D. in Nursing program.

In 2014, Dr. Sudia began her impactful, six-year tenure as Associate Dean at the LHSON where she developed and implemented policies and processes that promoted and enhanced research, including mentoring. She left Baylor to become Dean at Augusta University in 2020, and there she led efforts to increase enrollment across undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, complete two 10-year reaccreditation processes, secure major gifts and establish international partnerships.

As Interim Nursing Dean at UTA, Dr. Sudia has spent the last year leading the largest not-for-profit college of nursing in the U.S. with 17,000 students across three academic departments (undergraduate nursing, graduate nursing, and kinesiology) and three research centers (Bone-Muscle Collaborative Research Center, Center for Healthy Living and Longevity, and Center for Rural Health and Nursing). Additionally, UTA CONHI faculty lead two university centers (Clinical Imaging and Center for Innovation in Health Informatics).

Her tenure at UTA has included increasing enrollment by nearly 9%, developing two new academic programs, directing a $5.1 million Nursing Shortage Reduction Program funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and incorporating training on the use of Electronic Health Records to facilitate nursing students’ transition to nursing practice. Before becoming Interim Dean at UTA, Dr. Sudia was Senior Associate Dean, providing leadership for Undergraduate Nursing, Graduate Nursing, Office of Enrollment and Student Success, and Smart Hospital.

During her career, Dr. Sudia has received more than $10 million in research grants, including securing the LHSON’s initial affiliation with the U.S. Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing (USAGPAN) and a grant that led to the establishment of the pediatric palliative care collaborative nursing educational initiative in Bengaluru, India. She has advised students on dozens of dissertations, theses, M.S.N. capstone projects and DNP scholarship projects and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, contributed to book chapters and other publications and presented at academic conferences and meetings across the country. She also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing.

Provost Brickhouse also thanked the search committee for their time, insight and service during the process: Dr. J. Wesley (Wes) Null (chair), Ms. Jerchel Anderson, Dr. Karen Foli, Dr. Brandi Garrett, Dr. Karenna Malavanti, Dr. Roland Paquette, Dr. Deborah Shirey, Dr. Patricia DeFrehn, Dr. Sheron Wagner and Dr. Laura Zebreski.

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 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. Learn more about Baylor University at www.baylor.edu.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY LOUISE HERRINGTON SCHOOL OF NURSING

The Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON), located in Dallas, 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). Notably in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, Baylor’s BSN program jumped into the Top 30 at No. 28, while RegisteredNursing.org ranked the Best Accelerated BSN Programs No. 2 in Texas. The latest U.S. News Best Graduate Schools rankings list several LHSON programs, including the DNP program at No. 43 nationally. To learn more, visit the School of Nursing website.