The NYU College of Nursing, in conjunction with its recent elevation to a College within the university, and with its new partnership with the NYU College Dentistry, has announced the following promotions and new hires:
PROMOTIONS
Judith Haber, PhD, APRN, BC, FAAN, a family therapist and NYU faculty member since 1994, has become associate dean of graduate programs. Since 1997, she served as director of the master’s and post-master’s programs at NYU Nursing and is a double alumna of NYU. Internationally recognized as a clinician and educator in psychiatric-mental health nursing and in nursing research, she received two AJN Book of the Year awards for her classic textbook Comprehensive Psychiatric Nursing and for Nursing Research; Method and Critical Appraisal for Evidence-based Practice. She has conducted extensive research in the areas of family-theory tool development and in the physical and psychosocial adjustment to illness, particularly among women with breast cancer.
Hila Richardson, DrPH, MPH, RN, BSN, FAAN, has become associate dean of the undergraduate program. An NYU faculty member for eight years, Dr. Richardson is responsible for the development and oversight of the undergraduate program, continuing education offerings, and partnerships with community agencies for academic nursing practices. Previously she was the deputy director of medical research and practice policy at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, and she has also served as a senior administrator for long-term care for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Deborah Witt Sherman, PhD, APRN, ANP, PCM, BC, FAAN, associate professor and program coordinator of the first nurse practitioner palliative care master’s program, is now directing the doctoral program in nursing at NYU. A nationally known expert on palliative care nursing, Dr. Sherman developed the nation’s first advanced-practice program in palliative care nursing and her textbook on the subject received the AJN Book of the Year award. Dr. Sherman’s research focuses on populations with life-threatening and terminal illnesses. She has studied the relationship of health care providers and patients with AIDS and has conducted a longitudinal research study examining the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer or AIDS and their family caregivers. She has also researched the effects of psycho-social interventions to the adjustment of breast cancer patients and their partners.
Amy Knowles, MS Ed, BA, has been named assistant dean for student affairs and admissions of the NYU College of Nursing. She began at NYU as assistant director of admissions at the College of Dentistry in 2001 and was promoted to director of admissions in April 2005. Prior to working at NYU, she spent 12 years teaching English and special education in Maine and Connecticut schools.
Anthony Rini, MPA, a financial administrator at NYU Nursing since 1999, has become assistant dean for administration and finance. He previously worked in the School of Health Professions at Hunter College as director of administration for a large grant-funded center conducting HIV-AIDS education and training. Prior to that, he was a program officer for the New York State Department of Health and budget analyst for the State of New York.
NEW FACULTY
With the inception of the NYU College of Nursing, six new faculty members have been hired.
Babette Biesecker Cresswell, RNC, CS, MS, CRNP, joins the NYU College of Nursing faculty full-time, as program coordinator for the Holistic Nurse Practitioner Program-the first and only such program in the country-where she will teach didactic and clinical courses. As a family nurse practitioner and holistic nurse practitioner, she provides integrative family-centered care focused on pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting.
May Dobal, PhD, RN, joins the faculty at NYU College of Nursing, where she will further develop her research on African-Americans’ health-related decision making. Professor Dobal taught nursing most recently at the University of Pennsylvania and at Wayne State University. She is currently researching African-American women’s decisions about weight loss. Dr. Dobal’s ongoing interest in how to research health disparities among underserved groups will be the subject of her doctoral research seminar. She will also teach an undergraduate research course.
Caroline Dorsen, FNP, RN, joins the faculty as the program coordinator for the Adult Nurse Practitioner Program. Ms. Dorsen has worked as a health educator, RN and nurse practitioner for 15 years. She currently works as a family nurse practitioner at the UNITE Health Center in New York City, treating chronic disease and providing preventive health care across the lifespan. For the past three years, she has co-taught the practicum courses in primary care for adult nurse practitioner students at NYU.
William Fehder, PhD, MSN, CRNA, joins the College of Nursing faculty as associate clinical professor of nursing with a joint appointment with the NYU Medical School Department of Anesthesiology. Dr Fehder was formerly the clinical director for graduate programs in anesthesia for the College of Nursing and Health Professions at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Penn. A highly accomplished scholar, Dr. Fehder’s research has addressed laryngeal mask airway obstruction, the role of substance P as a modulator of stress on immunity, and immunologic function changes in patients experiencing amnesia.
Rose Knapp, MSN, RN, ACNP-C, for many years a part-time instructor in NYU’s former Division of Nursing, joins the College of Nursing faculty full-time. Her teaching will focus on adult health and nursing pharmacotherapeutics-the study of the therapeutic uses and effects of drugs. She has been a nurse practitioner in the Emergency Department of Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey-where she precepts nurse practitioner students. Over her 20-year career in critical care, Ms. Knapp has also been a part-time professor of graduate nursing at Seton Hall University and taught for 11 years at Brookdale Community College.
Lena Sorensen, PhD, RN, comes to NYU from a teaching career that has spanned the University of Colorado; University of Tromsø, Norway; University of Massachusetts; and Boston University. Her practical experience includes work as a clinical psychiatric nurse specialist at McLean Hospital in Boston and as a public health nurse in several communities. Professor Sorensen is an expert in health communications and technology and in nursing information management. Her research interests include providing culturally competent care to underserved communities, especially looking at how issues of race/ethnicity and/or sexual orientation affect access to health care resources.