Joan Shaver Appointed Dean of UA College of Nursing

Following a nationwide search, Joan Shaver, a national leader in nursing administration, education and research, has been appointed dean of The University of Arizona College of Nursing.

Shaver is professor and dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Illinois at Chicago, known as UIC, a top-10 college of nursing, according to U.S. News and World Report, and currently highly ranked in federal funding for nursing research and research training. She also is a nationally recognized researcher in women's health, sleep science, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Shaver, who was a faculty member at the UA College of Nursing from 1976 to 1977, is expected to join the college as dean in July. She replaces Carolyn Murdaugh, who has served as interim dean of the college since June 2008.

"We are absolutely thrilled that Joan Shaver has agreed to join our leadership team at the Arizona Health Sciences Center," said Dr. William M. Crist, UA vice president for health affairs. "Shaver is among the very top nursing administrators in the nation. Her great success at the University of Illinois in Chicago speaks for itself. She also is an internationally noted research scientist and will bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise and experience to our state. We eagerly await her arrival."

Saying that the college has long been a "national leader," Shaver noted that "the accomplished faculty and alumni, dedicated staff and highly competent students represent an impressive foundation for assuring that we reach even newer heights of excellence."

Shaver has conducted funded research in women's health and sleep science for more than 20 years. She and her team were among the first to study sleep problems as part of the transition into menopause. Her women's health and sleep science research encompasses sleep issues in women with mysterious and debilitating conditions disproportionately affecting women, including fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. During her tenure at UIC, she was co-director of the Research Core at the UIC National Center of Excellence in Women's Health from 1997 to 2004. 

Shaver is the 2004 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Research, Midwest Nursing Research Society, and the 2007 recipient of the North American Menopause Society/Duramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. Menopause and Sleep Research Award presented through The North American Menopause Society.

Her research has been published in numerous professional journals, including the Journal of Women's Health; Nursing Clinics of North America; Psychosomatic Medicine; Sleep; Brain, Behavior and Immunity; Nursing Research; the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism; the Journal of Women's Health & Gender-Based Medicine; the Journal of Rheumatology; and Research in Nursing and Health. She is the author of numerous chapters and books, as well as editorials and commentaries, on the nursing profession, nursing research, the health care work force and leadership.

In 2000, on the front edge of media and policy attention related to the nursing and health care work force shortage – and through the UIC Nursing Institute, which she founded in her college – Shaver initiated a national policy analysis panel with Lynn Martin as chair and representatives from business, health, professional and labor associations, foundations and policy institutes.

Shaver was an invited member of the Institute of Medicine Panel on the Health Professions Education Summit for 2002. For 12 years after founding the annual Power of Nursing Leadership Event, she has spearheaded with her colleagues this initiative to bring hundreds of health care leaders together across various health care sectors in Illinois.

As an Honors College Fellow, Shaver has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in leadership, technology and health policy, health ecology perspectives, and biobehavioral research frameworks.

Prior to joining UIC as dean of the College of Nursing in 1996, Shaver was with the University of Washington, Seattle, from 1985 to 1996, where she was co-director of the Center for Women's Health Research and chairperson and professor of the Department of Physiological Nursing (renamed Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems in 1995). 

While at UIC, Shaver served as a short-term World Health Organization consultant/visiting professor in the Department of Nursing Studies, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Indonesia in 1987 and 1988.

Shaver serves on the board of directors of Advocate HealthCare, an 11-hospital integrated, faith-based health care system in metropolitan Chicago; as a board liaison to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago; and on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research in Canada. She also is past-president of the American Academy of Nursing.

Shaver holds a doctorate in physiology and biophysics and a master's in nursing from the University of Washington, and a baccalaureate degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Established in 1957, the UA College of Nursing ranks among the top nursing programs in the United States and is recognized nationally for innovation and excellence in nursing education.