A Servant Leader Leaves a Lasting Legacy for the College of Nursing UTHSC originally recruited Dr. Jacob in 2003 because the college was developing a baccalaureate program in nursing, which it had not offered in many years. She was dean of the Union University School of Nursing at the time. She considers “leading efforts for the development and accreditation of cutting-edge programs” her most important contribution to the college. Dr. Jacob led the development of the BSN program and the clinical nurse leader program. She later worked with college leadership to convert the BSN program from a content-based to a concept-based program. Most recently, the college has reinstated its traditional BSN as a concept-based program. Dr. Jacob is the co-author and co-editor of a leading nursing textbook with Barbara Cherry, “Contemporary Nursing: Issues, Trends, and Management,” now in its 9th edition. She has extensive experience in curriculum and serves as a team lead evaluator for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and a curriculum/accreditation consultant for colleges of nursing.
Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Susan Jacob, PhD, RN, has been at the heart of the College of Nursing’s operations over the last two decades. She is retiring this year. Dr. Jacob has served the college in multiple leadership roles – first in 2003-2012 and again from 2015-2022. She initially retired in 2012, but came out of retirement in 2015 to assume the role of Interim Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. Since then, Dr. Jacob has filled several interim roles, until she took the position of assistant dean of Quality and Strategic Affairs in 2018. She has served in her current role since 2019. “From the time she began her PhD with us through the rest of her career, I knew that Susan was the type of servant leader that has been so important to the operations of the College of Nursing,” said Professor Emeritus and former Dean Michael Carter, DNSc, DNP, FAAN, FNP/GNP-BC. “Her quiet and passionate perspective on making the education our students receive the very best possible was palpable throughout her years.”
26
UTHSC COLLEGE OF NURSING | FALL 2022
“Susan is an impactful leader, colleague, and mentor to so many. She is full of knowledge and just has a way about her that pulls people together. It is with mixed emotions that we see Susan off into retirement. She has contributed so much to nursing and the UTHSC College of Nursing,” said Dean Likes. Dr. Jacob earned a BSN from West Virginia University, a Master of Science degree in Community Health Nursing from San Jose State University, and a PhD in Nursing Science from UTHSC, known at that time as UT-Memphis. Her research focus is grief and bereavement and her clinical focus is home health and hospice. She was instrumental in the development of the first hospice program in Memphis in 1979 and in 1983 received the John W. Runyan Community Nursing Award and the Key to the City of Memphis for her work developing hospice in Memphis. Vice Chancellor for Academic, Faculty, and Student Affairs Cindy Russell, PhD, RN, said that Dr. Jacob has left an indelible mark on the college, the university, and profession of nursing. “In her leadership roles for the college, she has been the foundational driving force for most of the recent academic programs and curricular initiatives of the college. She has led in challenging situations, while making consequential