UF College of Nursing dean named among 100 most powerful in health care by national magazine
The dean of the University of Florida College of Nursing is named one of the United States’ 100 most powerful leaders and policymakers in health care in the Aug. 25 issue of Modern Healthcare Magazine.
In the magazine’s second annual list, Kathleen Ann Long, Ph.D., president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, is ranked 67th on the list of influential people in health care. Three hundred of the country’s highest-level public officials, health-care administrators and representatives from professional organizations were listed on the final ballot, which was narrowed to the top 100 based on more than 13,000 readers’ votes.
Long is the only person affiliated with UF among the final 100. Now in her eighth year as dean of the College of Nursing, she serves as president of AACN through spring 2004. This organization is the national voice of baccalaureate and graduate degree nursing education programs.
As AACN president, Long seeks to further the organization’s mission of preparing a highly educated nursing workforce.
At the University of Florida, Long has taken the lead in developing innovative, nationally recognized nursing programs on UF campuses in Gainesville and Jacksonville. Numerous accelerated curriculum options and distance learning initiatives enable UF nursing students to earn higher degrees at a faster pace, preparing them for advanced practice and academic roles and addressing a statewide and nationwide nursing shortage.
A year ago Long was present in the White House’s Oval Office as President Bush signed the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which now is being implemented nationwide to alleviate the country’s severe nursing shortage by making it more attractive to enter and work in the profession. The act addresses the nursing shortage by providing scholarships to nursing students, encouraging careers as nursing faculty, assisting nurses in furthering their education and supporting career ladder partnerships between nursing schools and practice settings. AACN has been instrumental in lobbying the House and Senate for appropriations for the bill.
Long is among nine nursing representatives on the magazine’s list. 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, which provided input to a task force on national health-care reform. She also was active on the AACN task forces that developed the landmark reports “Nursing Education’s Agenda for the 21st Century” and “The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice.” She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and is a nationally certified clinical specialist in child and adolescent psychiatric/mental health nursing.