Two Women Scholars Appointed to Lead Nursing Schools

Christine Kasper was appointed dean of the College of Nursing at the University of New Mexico. She has been serving as a senior nursing executive for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and as a professor of nursing at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. Earlier in her career, she held the M. Adelaide Nutting Research Chair at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Dr. Kasper also served on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Kasper is the editor of the journal Annual Review of Nursing Research and was the founding editor of the journal Biological Research for Nursing. She holds a Ph.D. in nursing and physiology from the University of Michigan.

Melinda Granger Oberleitner was named dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. She has served as an associate dean at the nursing school since 2009. Earlier, she chaired the department of nursing for eight years. Dr. Oberleitner joined the faculty at the university in 1982.

Dr. Oberleitner is a graduate of what is now the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from Texas Woman’s University and a doctor of nursing science degree from the Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans.