UA Boasts Three New American Academy of Nursing Fellows

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Dr. Suzanne S. Prevost, dean of the Capstone College of Nursing, and Dr. Marietta P. Stanton, graduate faculty member in the College, will become Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing Oct. 18.

They will be inducted, along with alumnae Dr. Marsha Howell Adams, a former senior associate dean of the College, at the 2014 American Academy of Nursing Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

The American Academy of Nursing serves the public and the nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis and dissemination of nursing knowledge. The Academy’s more than 2,200 Fellows are nursing’s most accomplished leaders in education, management, practice and research. They have been chosen for their extraordinary contributions to nursing and health care.

“This is a great honor for our College to have three of our faculty identified as being among the most accomplished nurses in the nation,” Prevost said.

Fellows are among the nation’s most highly-educated citizens: more than 90 percent hold doctoral degrees. Invitation to the fellowship represents more than recognition of one’s accomplishments within the nursing profession. Academy fellows also have a responsibility to contribute their time and energies to the Academy and to engage with other health leaders outside the Academy in transforming America’s health system.

Academy goals include enhancing the quality of health and nursing care, promoting healthy aging and human development across the life continuum, reducing health disparities and inequalities, shaping healthy behaviors and environments, integrating mental and physical health and strengthening the nursing and health delivery system, nationally and internationally.

The College’s new Fellows met the Academy’s selection criteria with impressive academic records and proven service to the nursing profession. All have made significant contributions to the field of health care.

Appointed dean of the Capstone College of Nursing in August 2013, Prevost has an outstanding background in clinical practice, teaching and administration. In previous academic posts, she served as associate dean for practice and community engagement at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing and National Healthcare Geriatrics Chair at Middle Tennessee State University.

From 2011 to 2013, Prevost served as president of Sigma Theta Tau – the International Nursing Honor Society. During her two years as president, Prevost gave presentations at nursing conferences on six different continents. From 2009 to 2012, she held a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship. She was also a Hartford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, from 2006-2008. In 2003, the city of Erie, Pennsylvania named her a Hero of Public Housing. Texas Woman’s University honored her as one of its “Great 100 Alumni” in 2001.

Prevost received her Bachelor of Science in nursing at Villa Maria College in Pennsylvania, her Master of Science in nursing at Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston and her doctorate at Texas Women’s University in Houston. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Stanton is a professor of nursing at the Capstone College of Nursing. She is an emeritus faculty from the University of New York at Buffalo School of Nursing. Stanton has published a number of articles in case management, patient and provider education and nursing leadership. She has had federal funding for two research projects through the Tri-Service Nursing Research Grant Program and was has been funded for advanced nursing education grants through the Bureau of Health Professions.

Stanton received her doctorate in educational administration/instructional communication from the University of Buffalo, her Master of Science in business through Salve Regina University, her MA in Nursing at New York University and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Associate in Applied Sciences from Mount Saint Mary’s College. She recently completed a post-masters as an adult gerontological nurse practitioner in primary care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

She is certified through the American Nurses Credentialing Center in staff development and continuing education, nursing administration (advanced) and case management. She is certified through the Center for Case Management as a case management administrator. She is also a Certified Case Manager. Stanton has served the nation as an Army reservist and on active duty as the senior case manager for clinical operations, Southeast Regional Medical Command, during the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Marsha Howell Adams, after serving on the faculty of the Capstone College of Nursing for 31 years, accepted the position of dean of University of Alabama in Huntsville College of Nursing in July. Her most recent position at UA was senior associate dean of academic programs. She came to the College as an instructor and clinical supervisor, taught both undergraduate and graduate classes and served as the director of undergraduate programs.

Adams received her Bachelor of Science in nursing, Master of Science in nursing and doctorate from The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She also has a post-doctoral certification in rural nursing case management from the Capstone College of Nursing.

Adams serves as president of the National League for Nursing, an organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education that offers faculty development programs, networking opportunities, testing and assessment, nursing research grants and public policy initiatives to its 34,000 individual and 1,200 institutional members.