Anne Bavier, professor of nursing and medicine in the School of Nursing, has been named president-elect of the National League of Nursing (NLN) following a national vote of individual members. Bavier will serve in this capacity for the next two years, at which time she will assume her duties as president of the organization for an additional two-year period.
Bavier came to UConn in 2007 as dean of the school of nursing, a position she held until 2011 when she returned to full-time classroom teaching. Prior to coming to Storrs, she had also served as dean of the school of nursing at Saint Xavier University in Chicago. Under her leadership, both schools achieved the coveted designation of ‘Center of Excellence in Nursing Education,’ a recognition bestowed upon the nation’s top nursing schools by the NLN.
Bavier says the NLN encourages the exchange of ideas and looks at the cutting edge of nursing education. “The NLN has helped me grow and learn throughout my career,” she says. “It’s the type of organization that really makes a difference to the nursing profession and I am honored to have been elected to step into this national leadership position.”
When UConn was named a Center of Excellence, the school was cited for promoting the pedagogical expertise of its faculty. This is a particular point of pride for Bavier.
“Teaching is an innate part of nursing,” she says, “whether it is in a clinical setting or in academia. One of the things that makes me really proud to be here at UConn is that we have a faculty that is dedicated to providing the best possible education for our students …,” whether the students are freshmen taking their first courses leading to a bachelor’s in nursing, or advanced practice nursing students earning research or practice-focused doctoral degrees.
In announcing the election results, the NLN cited Bavier for her service on the board as governor at-large and as the organization’s secretary. She also spent more than a dozen years in leadership roles at federal health care agencies, including deputy director of the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s Health. The organization noted that Bavier has worked to expand grant funding to the academic institutions under her direction and has focused on expanding financial aid to economically disadvantaged nursing students.
Founded in 1893 as the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses, the NLN was the first formal nursing organization in the United States. Today, the NLN includes more than 39,000 individual and 1,200 institutional members. The organization is dedicated to excellence in nursing education. It offers faculty development programs, networking opportunities, testing and assessment, and nursing research grants. In addition, NLN participates in public policy initiatives that support the growth of professional nursing nationwide. All efforts recognize the importance of high quality nursing education in promoting the health of the nation.
