Nursing School Leadership Named

Jean Johnson is the new dean of the GW School of Nursing.

July 6, 2010

Jean Johnson smiles in office

Last May, the Board of Trustees approved a plan to create a school of nursing at GW, as GW Today reported. Now, the founding deans have been named.

Jean Johnson, senior associate dean for health sciences, will be the dean of the GW School of Nursing, and Ellen Dawson, chair of the Department of Nursing Education, will be senior associate dean for academic affairs.

“We are fortunate that Dr. Johnson and Dr. Dawson are assuming these new roles at our new School of Nursing,” said John Williams, M.D. ’79, Ed.D. ’96, senior vice provost and vice president for health affairs, in a release. “They have outstanding credentials and reputations, and their vision and leadership will ensure the school’s long-term success.”

In her tenure at GW, Dr. Johnson developed the graduate and undergraduate health care programs and the physical therapy program.

Dr. Dawson helped build GW’s simulation nursing lab and recruited more than 30 professors.

The nursing school will include master and doctor of science in nursing programs, as well as a second degree bachelor of science in nursing and post-master’s degree certificate programs.

The new school, which opened July 1 and already includes 30 faculty members and is expected to expand, is housed on GW’s Foggy Bottom and Virginia Science and Technology campuses.