Kathleen Long takes office as president, American Association of Colleges of Nursing
Kathleen A. Long, Ph.D., R.N., dean of the University of Florida College of Nursing, is the new president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the national organization of baccalaureate and graduate degree nursing education programs.
Long took office at the AACN’s recent annual meeting in Washington, D.C. She plans to further the organization’s mission of preparing a highly educated nursing work force by building consensus on future directions for nursing education, pursuing legislative support for nursing education and research, and raising awareness about the importance of nurses in the delivery of high-quality patient care.
“Kathy Long has been an outspoken advocate for baccalaureate and higher degree nursing education for more than 20 years,” said Carolyn A. Williams, Ph.D., R.N., AACN’s immediate past president and dean of the University of Kentucky School of Nursing. “Dr. Long brings a dynamic mix of visionary leadership, political savvy, intellectual strength and high energy to her new role as president, which will serve the association well.”
Long was appointed dean of UF’s College of Nursing in 1995 after serving as dean at the Montana State University College of Nursing for five years. She formerly served as a faculty member or administrator at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Husson College and Montana State University.
She has served on the advisory board to the U.S. Office of Rural Health Policy and on the Advisory Group of Deans of Schools of Nursing that provided input to former President Bill Clinton’s task force on national health-care reform.
Long served on the AACN’s task forces that developed “The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice” and “Nursing Education’s Agenda for the 21st Century.” She recently chaired AACN’s task force on the education and regulation of professional nursing practice.
She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, a nationally certified clinical specialist in child and adolescent psychiatric/mental health nursing, a life fellow in the American Orthopsychiatric Association, and a member of Sigma Theta Tau, an international honor society of nursing, and Phi Beta Kappa. She has focused her clinical work and research on child and family mental health, rural health and health issues affecting minority populations.