IU School of Nursing Bloomington's new associate dean
"We have an extraordinarily talented faculty and staff here at IUSON BL, and I look forward to creatively working with them and with the health systems in our community."
Meet Wendy Miller
By her own admission, IU School of Nursing Bloomington's (IUSON BL) new Associate Dean Wendy Miller is “a Hoosier through-and-through.” Wendy is originally from Judah, IN (just south of Bloomington) and has lived here her whole life. She attended IUB as an undergraduate in our nursing program, so her appointment as Associate Dean “feels very much like a full circle moment for me,” she says.
Wendy’s stellar resume includes:
- Over 17 years teaching at IUSON on both the Bloomington and IUPUI campuses, the last ten as an associate professor. Wendy is also an Adult Health Clinical Nurse Specialist, with a clinical background in adult ICU and an emphasis on neuro.
- An extensive research portfolio that focuses on self-management in chronic disease, particularly epilepsy. Wendy’s research is highly interdisciplinary, and her main goal “is to infuse the patient voice into quality of life-enhancing interventions.”
- Expertise in using Big Data to ask and answer nursing research questions.
- Coordinator of IUSON’s PhD program.
- Co-Director of IUSON’s NIH-funded T32 grant entitled Advanced Training in Self-Management Interventions for Serious Chronic Conditions.
- Chair, Epilepsy Foundation of Indiana Advisory Board
- Secretary, Epilepsy Foundation of America Professional Advisory Board
From learner to leader: Wendy's IUSON BL graduation photo, and as associate dean
We asked Wendy to sit down with The Nursing News and tell us what she sees as the greatest challenges facing the nursing profession and IUSON BL and her vision for the road ahead.
Q 1: What do you see as the greatest opportunities facing the nursing profession?
WM: “Nursing is at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has unearthed and magnified the challenges & opportunities facing the profession, while also creating unprecedented ones. I see a clear opportunity for nurse leaders to organize to use this unprecedented moment to clarify what nursing is and does. However, the immediate priority must be protecting the mental and physical health of nurses and providing safe working conditions. This is also a very challenging environment for new nursing graduates entering the profession, and we must consider how best to prepare and support them.
“Another challenge that is also more of an opportunity is for nursing to be included at the forefront of efforts to improve health equity in the United States. Nurses are perfectly situated to identify and help address social determinants of health that affect health outcomes, and there is a need for far more research and policy making in this area.”
"IU Bloomington is exceedingly blessed with research expertise in many areas, including health and the social sciences. I look forward to our nursing faculty and students becoming more involved in research collaborations with these faculty.”
Q 2: What do you see as the biggest opportunities facing the IU School of Nursing Bloomington, its students, and faculty?
WM: “Nationwide, there is an urgent need for more nurses in a variety of roles (direct patient care, advanced practice, education, research), and there is a desire for schools of nursing to prepare as many nurses (practicing at all levels) as possible.
“One opportunity IUSON BL has long faced is expanding our nursing program. We are making huge strides in this area – thanks to the current and prior leaders in the school and community – but there is still a need for expansion. However, we (and many other schools of nursing) are limited in the number of students we can accept based on a myriad of factors, including clinical placement sites and faculty. I look forward to working with area health systems to continue to grow our enrollment, and the Health Sciences Building being attached to the Regional Academic Health Center is a very good first step. We have an extraordinarily talented faculty and staff here at IUSON BL, and I look forward to creatively working on this opportunity with them and the health systems in our community.
“Another major challenge is the ongoing pandemic. Our students, faculty, and staff have been affected – just like everyone else – but especially those faculty and students working, teaching, or learning in our clinical sites. Our faculty and students are being exposed to difficult conditions, and that is certainly a challenge that I'm aware of and hope to mitigate. The other challenge relates to the uncertainty of higher education right now. Our faculty and staff are tremendously creative and have dealt with these challenges extremely well but, given that the resolution of the pandemic is uncertain, this flexibility will still be needed.”
Q 3: What are your goals for IUSON BL?
WM: “My overarching goal is for IUSON BL to contribute to the IUSON mission using attributes that are unique to the Bloomington campus. IUB is exceedingly blessed with research expertise in many areas, including health and the social sciences. I look forward to our nursing faculty and students becoming more involved in research collaborations with these faculty.
“Another important goal is to have the IU School of Nursing in Bloomington become more visible and active on the IUB campus and in the Bloomington community – the new Regional Academic Health Center leaves us well-positioned for that. IUSON's mission flows from a well-supported, well-developed, innovative faculty and staff, and my goal is for us to achieve that together as a student-centered IUSON campus. Specific goals here include program expansion, faculty and staff recruitment and retention, and increased research and scholarship opportunities for both faculty and students.
I am so happy and excited to be coming back to IUB in this leadership role and look forward to working with IUSON BL's outstanding faculty, staff, and students.”
L: Wendy with her family: Amelia, Briana, Wendy, husband Tim, Rowan, and Max.
R: Wendy with Darla.
Away from work, Wendy and her husband Tim have two children: Amelia, who is 19 and a sophomore at Oklahoma City University studying music theatre and opera; and Rowan, who is 11 and a 5th grader at St. Vincent School in Bedford. “He loves NBA basketball,” says Wendy, “and you'll find us at Pacers games often!” Wendy’s stepchildren are Briana, who is 18 and an IU freshman, and Max, who is 17 and a junior at Bloomington North High School where he is a top diver. Their rescue dog, Darla, is 11. Outside of work, Wendy is very involved in community theatre and endurance cycling. She also serves on the North Lawrence Community Schools Board of Directors.