Dr. Nena F. Sanders, who has 27 years of experience as a staff nurse, nursing professor and administrator, has been named Dean of Samford University's Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing.

Dr. Sanders, who has taught and coordinated the Nurse Executive and Management Tracks at the Samford nursing school since 1999, will succeed Dean Marian K. Baur, effective August 1. Dr. Baur will step down after 14 years as Dean, but will continue to teach in the nursing school.

"Dr. Nena Sanders brings a wealth of nursing as well as administrative experience to this task and is already intimately familiar with the program," said Samford Provost Joe O. Lewis. "She has been a leader in curriculum development at the School of Nursing and has sought to deliver its services most effectively to the public. She understands both the nature of this school and national issues relating to the nursing profession.

"I welcome the appointment of Dr. Sanders as Dean of the Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing. She will be a valued colleague."

Sanders served on the nursing faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from 1983 until 1994. She taught in the nursing graduate programs, coordinated the nursing administration program and served as project director for a cost management education for nurses program.

From 1994 until 2000, Sanders was president and chief executive officer of Strategic Dynamics, Inc., a healthcare consulting firm in Shelby County.

Trained as a cardiovascular-clinical nurse specialist, she was a critical care clinical specialist at South Highlands Hospital during 1979-80 and a nursing assistant, staff nurse and supervisor of the medical intensive care unit at Brookwood Medical Center during 1975-78.

Sanders holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral nursing degrees from UAB. She did pre-nursing work at the University of Montevallo.

The new Dean has made numerous presentations related to nursing, nursing and health services administration and case management at medical, professional and educational meetings across Alabama, the Southeast and nationally. She serves on a variety of review boards for grants in the nursing profession and has written an assortment of articles for professional publications.

She has been a nurse consultant for both academic and healthcare organizations in Alabama, Arizona, Kentucky, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

At Samford, Sanders has served as chair of the nursing curriculum and evaluation committee and as a member of the university curriculum committee, the task force to develop a master's degree in healthcare ethics and law and other committees. She is an on-site evaluator for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), the national accrediting body for schools of nursing.