| CONTACT - Volume 9, Number 2
Pegge L. Bell Named Dean
 The Division of Nursing is pleased to welcome Dr. Pegge L. Bell as its new dean. Before coming to Barry, Dr. Bell was the associate dean for Master's Education and Department Chair for Nursing Practice at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She comes to us with over 20 years of experience in nursing education. With a strong background in nursing education for a changing health care environment that includes, in addition to hospital care, working in public health, clinics, and schools she will integrate smoothly with Barry's new community-based nursing curriculum.
As a nurse educator, Dr. Bell's major area of interest has been maternal-child health. In 1997 she completed a post-master's women's health nurse practitioner program so that she could give direct care to adolescents in a school-based clinic that she developed in collaboration with the state's school nurses association and the Arkansas Department of Health. As with Barry's own Primary Care Nursing Center, without this clinic many children in area schools would receive no health care at all.
Active in many professional organizations, Dr. Bell has held the Chair position for Sigma Theta Tau International's Heritage Committee and was recently awarded the Dorothy Buschman Presidential Award. She has held key positions in the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal nurses, and served on a state task force for the Arkansas Nurses Association to introduce initial legislation regarding advanced nursing practice. Dr. Bell received a gubernatorial appointment in which she served as vice-chair of a committee charged to create and oversee a prenatal home visitation program for adolescents. In addition, she has secured funding for a number of educational grants and research endeavors. Having made numerous presentations to state, regional, and national audiences, she continues to conduct her research with adolescent populations and to gather historical data on the accomplishments of nurses during World War II |
