Kaye Herth, dean of Minnesota State University, Mankato's College of Allied Health & Nursing, will retire in August 2010, President Richard Davenport announced this week.
Herth, dean since 1998, led the college’s expansion into doctoral programs, a cutting-edge research center, and innovative service-education partnerships and distance technology initiatives.
Herth spearheaded a successful multi-year effort to obtain legislative approval for doctor of nursing practice degrees, and earlier this year the college was the first in the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system to confer such degrees.
She also oversaw planning for three innovative new initiatives funded by a $7 million gift from Glen and Becky Taylor to the School of Nursing: the Glen Taylor Family and Society Endowed Nursing Faculty Chair, the Becky Taylor Doctoral Fellowships in Nursing, and the Glen Taylor Nursing Institute for Family and Society. The institute creates better health-care models by using inquiry, discovery, innovation and partnerships that span traditional health-care disciplines.
“Thanks to Kaye’s leadership, our College of Allied Health & Nursing ranks among the region’s most innovative,” Davenport said. “Kaye has guided the college’s departments through many improvements that have brought more flexibility and student responsiveness in a time of rapid change in the health-care industry. I thank her for her insightful ideas and dedicated service. We will miss her.”
Herth joined Minnesota State Mankato in 1998, and served in leadership positions at Georgia Southern University, Northern Illinois University and Clemson University. She was a family nurse practitioner in Appalachia and Texas, and she has done clinical practice in hospitals, hospices and community health centers.
She has received numerous honors and awards, including recognition from the World Health Organization for her research on hope among the terminally ill, and is listed in the biographical directory “Two Thousand Outstanding Scientists of the 20th Century.” Herth is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.
She is an international expert on hope, humor and grief in people with chronic or terminal illnesses. Her innovative instruments to measure hope are used by medical professionals throughout the world, and have been translated into 19 foreign languages. She is co-author of a book, “Hope and Hopelessness”; has published chapters about hope, humor and grief in eight major nursing texts; and has published more than 60 articles in professional journals.
She developed the hope intervention program, now used in more than 30 health-care facilities around the world.
Herth earned a doctorate in nursing from Texas Woman’s University, a master of science degree in nursing from the University of Minnesota, a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Northern Illinois University, a post-graduate management and leadership certificate from Harvard University, and a diploma in nursing from St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing, Racine, Wis.
Minnesota State Mankato will conduct a national search for Herth’s replacement.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive, doctoral university with 14,800 students and two satellite sites, is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, which comprises 32 institutions across the state.
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