Regina Cusson has been named dean of UConn’s School of Nursing following an extensive national search, according to Provost Mun Y. Choi and Vice Provost Sally M. Reis in an announcement made on March 25.

Cusson, who had been acting as interim dean since the fall of 2011, has been a professor in the School of Nursing since 1998. From 2007 to 2010, she also served as associate dean for academic affairs and advanced practice.

In the announcement of her appointment, Choi said, “Dr. Cusson is a dynamic leader who has led the school as interim dean and who will continue to develop and implement a strategic vision for excellence in nursing education and research.”

A certified neonatal nurse practitioner, Cusson has coordinated the School of Nursing’s Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program, and her federally-funded research studies have helped define practice standards in this field. In 2008, the American Academy of Nursing made her a Fellow in recognition of her contributions to nursing education and neonatal nursing.

Cusson’s current research focuses on advanced nursing practice role transition and neonatal nurse practitioner workforce issues in the U.S. and Britain. She has also coordinated the Faculty Special-Interest Group for the National Association of Neonatal Nurses. In addition to serving as a consultant to neonatal nurse practitioner programs throughout the U.S., she has served on numerous editorial boards including the major neonatal nursing journals, Advances in Neonatal Care and Neonatal Network.

As interim dean, Cusson worked closely with administrators, faculty, and staff to enroll students in the school’s BS-to-DNP program, to award degrees for the Certified Entry Into Nursing BS program, and to open the renovated Storrs Hall and its new Carolyn Ladd Widmer Wing.

Cusson earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from St. Joseph College in Maryland, her MS and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, and a post-graduate certificate as a neonatal nurse practitioner from the University of Pennsylvania.

While on the faculty of the University of Maryland’s School of Nursing, she developed a pediatric-trauma-critical care nursing graduate major, as well as the first neonatal nurse practitioner program in the state of Maryland. Before coming to UConn as coordinator of the neonatal nurse practitioner program, she served as chair of the Department of Maternal-Child Nursing at the University of Maryland.