Julee Waldrop, DNP'10, our new assistant dean of the DNP Program, has arrived!

Waldrop earned a BA in Education with a specialization in physical education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her BSN from Texas Woman’s University, her MS from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her terminal degree, the DNP, from Duke University School of Nursing.

She has taught nursing, primarily NPs, for over 20 years and has taught many different courses, primarily children’s and women’s health but also pathophysiology, pharmacology and health assessment as needed. She has taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago-Urbana Campus, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The University of Central Florida. She is a certified nurse educator. Her favorite aspect of teaching is working individually with undergraduate honors students, master’s students and DNP students on projects. Students she has worked with have been very successful in writing manuscripts about their scholarly work at all levels with 21 achieving success in publication.

As a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and family nurse practitioner and as a primary care practitioner, she is a generalist at heart, but her clinical area of expertise is holistic newborn care, including the mother and her support systems. Her expertise as a clinician and educator led to a Faculty Practice Award from the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties and membership as a Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Her research and scholarship focus on infants, young children and mothers, and she has been able to participate in many areas of research and scholarship including educational scholarship.

She is editor-in-chief of "The Journal for Nurse Practitioners," and, in this leadership role for the NP profession, seeks to support and encourage new authors to showcase the excellent work they are doing in clinical practice, research, policy and advocacy. She has been a CCNE site evaluator for seven years, and, through work submitted to the journal and visiting many DNP programs across the country, she has a big picture of the state of DNP programs nationally. She is committed to a growth mindset in her personal work to become a better human: A human who acts to improve systems and structures that oppress people who are not of the dominant culture.

Waldrop will be working closely with Barbara Turner, Elizabeth P. Hanes Professor of Nursing, Jennifer Meyer Dare, DNP program coordinator, Sr., and Marion Carter, program coordinator, as she transitions to her new role at DUSON. A sincere thank you to Turner, who served as interim assistant dean of the DNP Program since January 1, 2020.

Welcome, Julee!