Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) is excited to welcome Valerie Howard, EdD, MSN, RN as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (ADAA). In her role, Howard will develop, implement and evaluate educational programs and ensure that the School’s academic programs receive necessary resources. Additionally, she will provide leadership and oversight to operations that support DUSON and its students.

“We are very happy to have Valerie join us at Duke. She brings more than 21 years of experience as a leading nursing educator and scholar and will help us to continue our success as a world-class center of nursing education,” said Marion E. Broome, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and Ruby Wilson Professor of Nursing, vice-chancellor for Nursing Affairs, School of Nursing, Duke University and associate vice-president for Academic Nursing, Duke University Health System. “Valerie’s experience at all levels of nursing education will be an asset to our students, faculty and staff. I am looking forward to her very strong leadership here at Duke,” Broome said.

Before joining DUSON, Howard served as Dean at Robert Morris University’s (RMU) School of Nursing and Health Sciences in Pittsburgh, where she was also the University Professor of Nursing. Her accomplishments as RMU’s Dean included improved certification exam pass rates, increased enrollment, execution of contracts with health care organizations to support clinical education of nurses, successful accreditation efforts for nursing and health sciences programs, improved marketing efforts and the development of innovative and collaborative majors.

Prior to her position as Dean, she served in various leadership roles at RMU including Director of Development and Assistant Dean for External Affairs, Academic Department Head and Academic Integrity Council Chair. She helped to raise more than $8 million in both research and non-research funding working in tandem with the RMU Advancement Team, Office of the President, Office of Research and Grants and school of nursing and health science administrative team to support programmatic and simulation initiatives, improve the campus experience and construct a new building for the school of nursing and health sciences, Scaife Hall. 

Howard helped create the Society for Simulation in Healthcare accredited RMU Regional Research and Innovation in Simulation Education (RISE) Center and served as its founding director. She served as president of the International Nursing Association of Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) from 2011 to 2013. She also received the INACSL Excellence Award in Research in 2010. Howard helped develop the inaugural Elsevier Simulation Learning System, a curricular support system to assist with implementation of simulation experiences that is now being used at more than 400 schools of nursing. She also created the RMU Leadership in Simulation Instruction and Management Certificate Program to prepare faculty to implement simulation in their curricula.

Howard earned her EdD in Higher Education Administration and MSN (Nursing Education) from the University of Pittsburgh and her BSN from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Valerie Howard to DUSON!