Dr. Susan Pressler Steps into Appointment as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies
She will play a key role in the implementation of Michigan's new Doctorate in Nursing Program.
Dr. Susan Pressler enters her new appointment as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies with eagerness, optimism, and a willingness to work for the improvement of the School of Nursing: “I’m really excited about this position. We have wonderful students here and it is a great University. It’s a lot of responsibility, too.”
Dr. Pressler joins the administrative faculty of the graduate school at Michigan at a particularly exciting time, as the School prepares to launch the DNP (Doctorate in Nursing Practice) program. She expressed that, as with any new initiative, it commands the most attention but is also the most exciting.
“Any time you have a new program it’s going to take more time and attention to orient the faculty, to orient the students,” she said. But it is certainly worth the time and attention, considering that this new program is groundbreaking in nursing education.
“We have the opportunity to create the DNP program here in the Michigan way … and have it be a leading program in the country for bridging research knowledge to practice,” Dr. Pressler said. She added that, for the DNP as well as all the graduate programs, “We like to think about trying to be the top program in the country.”
While the DNP will likely emerge as a primary focus, Dr. Pressler is committed to all programs. “There’s a long history of having a strong PhD program,” she said, adding later, “We have over 200 students in our Masters courses, so it’s vital to maintain all of the quality of those programs and prepare our graduate nurses.”
Dr. Pressler expressed that her background and research mesh well with Michigan’s faculty and its academic philosophy: “The strength of the faculty in nursing and the interdisciplinary work that we do is really exciting. We have a strong bio-behavioral focus, and it fits well with my research.”
And what got Dr. Pressler interested in nursing in the first place was helping people, and she sees this appointment as an opportunity to continue in that endeavor. She hopes to continue to work closely with members of the School of Nursing community on an individual level: “Helping graduate students seek funding, helping them make it through the program will be tremendous, as will be helping mentoring younger faculty in the program.”
Overall, Dr. Pressler looks forward to the many new opportunities that come with this appointment, and is ready to take on the responsibility. As she said herself, “It’s really an exciting time in nursing education.”
