Georgia Southern University - College of Health and Human Sciences

Office of the Dean

• About Dean Bartels
• CHHS Administration
• Culture of the College
• Evolution of the College
• SOAR 2009 Presentation

About Dean Bartels

Dr. Bartels was appointed as the Interim Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia in January 2010.  She served as the Chair of the School of Nursing and Professor of Nursing since 1999.  She holds Full Graduate Faculty status at Georgia Southern University.  She served as the Chair of Nursing at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1990-1999.  She worked as a staff nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Columbia Hospital in Milwaukee.  Her practice and research experiences have focused on community-based nursing practice and education as well as the health care needs of individuals responding to chronic illnesses including those experiencing acute neurological, cardiovascular, and respiratory impairments.  Most recently, her scholarship has focused on teaching, learning, critical thinking and outcome assessment in nursing education.  She has served on the educational policies committees, discipline deans committees, curriculum committees, strategic planning councils, and research and assessment councils at Alverno College and Georgia Southern University.  She has taught theory and clinical practice in all areas of the nursing curriculum

Dr. Bartels has conducted research in a variety of nursing practice and higher education areas.  Examples of studies completed and published include:  Self Regulation--Perceptions of the Chronically Ill (Fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health); Living with Ventricular Dysrhythmias; Caring for Pre-Transplant Patients Waiting in the Hospital--Nurses Views; Perceptions of Care Givers of Patients Awaiting Heart Transplants; Identification of Novice Nursing Students' Learning Needs--A Study of Self-Referent Experiences; Discriminant Analysis of RN's Perceptions of Ideal and Current Work Environments; Clinical Competence in Baccalaureate Nursing Students--The Reliability and Validity of Performance Assessment Measures; and Outcome Assessment in the Professions:  The Case of Mandating the Assessment of Critical Thinking Outcomes for All Nursing Programs; Educating Nurses for the 21st Century; Your Career as a Nurse Educator; and Answering the Call for Quality Nursing Care and Patient Safety:  A
New Model for Nursing Education.  Her current research and writing activities focus on the development and measurement of teaching, learning, and assessment outcomes in nursing education.  She has presented her findings at the American Association of Higher Education and the American Educational Research Association as well as at nursing discipline conferences. She has written books, chapters, and articles on topics including outcome measurement in nursing education, critical thinking in nursing, nursing education for the 21st century, service learning, community-based nursing education and cultural competence.  She presented at the Sullivan Commission national meetings on diversity in the health professions in Atlanta and Chicago. She provided testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding solutions to dealing with current and projected shortages of nurses and nurse educators.

She has conducted local, state, national, and international workshops, presentations and consultations on issues related to community-based nursing practice, nursing education, ability based/outcome focused education, critical thinking, assessment processes and accreditation in higher education.  She recently served as one of 30 international experts in nursing education at the World Health Organization Summit to create the International Standards for Basic Nursing Education and Nurse Midwifery.  Recent presentations include:  Addressing Nursing Shortages; Quality Health Care Delivery; Preparing for Accreditation; Clinical Teaching and Evaluation; Assessment as Learning:  Starting with the Student; Collaborative Teaching:  Creating a Culture Where Assessment Improves Learning; Critical Thinking in Nursing; Designing Performance Assessment for Nursing Practice; Assessing Nurses' Abilities in the Practice Environment; and New Educational Models for Nursing.  She has presented extensively at the national and international levels.

Dr. Bartels served as the President of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing from 2004-2006.  She was a Board of Directors and Executive Committee member from 1995-2006 and a member of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) Steering Committee that created the CCNE accrediting body and currently serves as a CCNE site evaluator. She was the Assistant Editor for Education for the Journal of Professional Nursing and served on the Editorial Board.   She was the Chairperson of the Statewide Nursing Advisory Commission for the Wisconsin AHEC and the legislative liaison for Wisconsin Deans to AACN. She was a founding member of the Global Alliance for Nursing Education. She serves on the Joint Commission on the Recognition of Specialty Boards for the American Podiatric Medical Association.  She serves as President of the Ogeechee Area Hospice, Inc. Board of Directors.  Among others, she is a member of the American Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing, ISSSS, the Southeastern Nursing Research Society, and the American Educational Research Association.  One of only 14 recipients, she received the American Association of Colleges of Nursing 2009 Sr. Bernadette Armiger Award in recognition of her significant contributions to nursing education and the advancement of the profession.