Message from Dean Sanford

Dear UMMC Friends and Colleagues,

I hope you are enjoying your summer and finding some time for rest and relaxation. Here at UMMC, in May, we graduated a large class of 428, including 12 post-graduate certificates, from the summer, fall and spring semesters. It was exciting to greet each graduate and shake hands, celebrating their accomplishments and successes. Graduation is my favorite time of the academic year and I am grateful and honored to represent the school.

This summer, each of our mission areas continues moving forward with good work. Our Traditional BSN program at Jackson began classes with orientation in May and seniors are in summer externships. The Oxford Accelerated BSN program students began their last semester while accelerated Jackson students moved into their 2nd semester. RN-BSN and graduate students continue in online classes and complete clinical rotations. Our school based clinics are open and personnel are providing health care to students during the summer with the mobile health clinic — now supporting care in distant locations. Our telehealth nurse educators continue to educate and assist school nurses in establishing telehealth services in school districts across the state. Research projects are ongoing and scholarly emphasis remains strong. Most exciting, the groundbreaking for the new School of Nursing building is scheduled for June 28 at 11 a.m. I hope all of you can attend!

As some of you may know, I have made the difficult decision to transition to a new dean role outside of the institution. I will be returning to my home state of Alabama and be close to my family. I have enjoyed my four years at UMMC and will be forever grateful for you and the journey we have taken together. Support for nursing education, research and practice is strong at UMMC and is clearly evident with the new building, resources for greater enrollment, enhanced research infrastructure and collaboration and partnerships that improve access to quality health care for the citizens of Mississippi. THANK YOU for your enthusiastic support and encouragement during my service as dean. I am pleased to share that Dr. Tina Martin will be serving as interim dean while a search for the new dean gets underway. I wish you well in all that you do. The future is bright for the UMMC School of Nursing!

All the best,

Julie T. Sanford, DNS, RN, FAAN, ANEF
Dean and Professor
School of Nursing
University of Mississippi Medical Center

Empowering Nurse Leaders. Transforming Health Care.