Laurie Lauzon Clabo has been appointed dean of the Wayne State University College of Nursing. Clabo, whose appointment is effective April 1, 2015, is a nationally recognized leader in nursing education.
She joins Wayne State from the MGH Institute of Health Professions, a health professions graduate school in Boston where she has served as dean of the School of Nursing since 2010.
"Dr. Clabo will bring wide knowledge and experience both in the many facets of nursing education and in the wider health sciences arena," said Margaret E. Winters, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. "I look forward to welcoming her as dean of the College of Nursing and to collaborating with her as Wayne State further enhances its standing in these disciplines."
Clabo succeeds Nancy Artinian, who served as interim dean during a national search.
Prior to joining the Institute of Health Professions, Clabo was associate dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Rhode Island. In 2006, she was recognized as the Rhode Island Academic Nurse Educator of the Year. Additionally, she has held a number of positions in nursing leadership, including as the director of nursing practice at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston Ontario, Canada.
In 2005, she was named a Fellow in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Leadership for Academic Nursing Program. She served on the Board of Trustees of Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, Rhode Island, and on the inaugural Board of Trustees for CharterCARE Health Partners of Rhode Island and the Quality Oversight Committee of the Board.
In 2011, she was selected for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Executive Nurse Fellows program, the nation's three-year flagship leadership development program for senior nurse executives. She is a fellow of the AACN/Wharton Executive Leadership Program. In 2013, Clabo was appointed by the Board of Directors of the American Association of Colleges in Nursing to chair its national task force on the redesign of clinical education for advanced practice nursing.
Her clinical background is in critical care nursing with a focus on acute care cardiology. Her research focuses on the impact of nursing unit-level culture on the practice of the individual nurse and nursing workforce issues. She is widely published and a frequent national speaker on nursing education issues, including competency-based education, clinical education for advanced practice and critical thinking in nursing education.
Clabo serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Professional Nursing and has served for the past three years on the executive board of the Massachusetts Association of Colleges of Nursing, of which she is currently president. She is a site visitor for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and a manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Nursing Education.
"I am pleased and humbled to be joining the outstanding faculty of the College of Nursing," said Clabo. "I look forward to working together with these talented new colleagues and others across campus to forward the mission of this nationally recognized research university and to enhance our contribution to the community".
Clabo earned a Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Rhode Island; a master's in nursing administration from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and a bachelor's in nursing from the University of Windsor.
Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution of higher education offering 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 28,000 students.