Dean Stover values quality and communication in health care and will ensure high-quality and innovative educational opportunities as VTSU continues to grow health care programs to meet workforce crisis.
Vermont State University (VTSU) welcomes Caitlin Stover, PhD, RN as the new Dean of Nursing and Health Sciences. Stover joins VTSU as the nursing program continues to expand to meet the demands of the health care workforce crisis. Highly skilled and well-prepared nurses are desperately needed across Vermont in all sectors of the health care system. VTSU graduates about 375 nursing students at all levels each year, with programs offered from a practical nursing certificate to a Master’s-level nursing education, with flexible learning programs that include online courses, in-person and on-campus options, and hands-on learning experiences in state-of-the-art labs available for every student.
“We are so fortunate to welcome a leader with Caitlin’s, skills, experience and drive in the essential leadership position of dean of nursing and health science,” said David Bergh, interim president of VTSU. “Over three-quarters of our nursing graduates earn licenses to practice in Vermont when they leave VTSU, and our dedication to providing Vermont with the health care professionals it needs at all levels in all corners of the state is unwavering. Caitlin is up to the challenge of thoughtfully and efficiently expanding our nursing and health sciences programs in a way that will ensure the programs retain their stellar reputation of producing highly capable graduates.”
Stover has worked in nursing education for more than 17 years, many of them in at the university administration level. Drawing her to her new post as dean of nursing and health sciences at VTSU is the opportunity to work with both future nurses and their future colleagues. In her position at VTSU, she will oversee not only the nursing program, but the education of allied health professionals, including radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, dental hygienists, and future physical, speech and occupational therapists who use the general health sciences major as a foundation for further studies, among others.
“It’s important to me that all of us on the health care team who work together be educated together. The only way we’re going to be successful as nurses is if we work well with the other members of our team,” she explained. “It translates into the workplace—not only into better outcomes for the patients, but for the employees, too,” she said, citing improved employee satisfaction, and employee retention. “The nurse is often referred to as the care manager. The more nurses who understand what’s going to happen, for example, when patients go down to radiology, the better they can prepare their patients.”
Stover will also focus on ensuring that programs adhere to strict accreditation and regulation requirements and retain their high-quality offerings and reputation. She knows the accompanying demands well, having created a nursing program from the ground up at her last job at Assumption University, where the inaugural class had a 100 percent pass rate on the nursing boards.
“We are in a health care crisis, and, in particular, we are in a nursing crisis right now. We need to graduate safe practitioners of high quality and caliber because they are our brand and they are our ambassadors and that’s what society deserves,” she noted.
VTSU has an incredible impact on our state’s health care landscape—growing their programs efficiently. With pass rates each year well above national averages and even 100 percent for the Practical Nursing program, it’s no surprise that 75 percent of Vermont’s nurses today were educated at VTSU. Last year, VTSU announced it would grow its nursing program to 1000 seats. Significant investments in facilities and equipment include substantial renovations to expand the nursing education center at Williston and create a new nursing education center at Johnson, as well as a telepresence classroom at Castleton and updates to its lab in Lyndon. Dean Stover will be taking the lead on this expansion.
“We offer our students the ability to learn all across Vermont while accessing courses in a way that fits their lifestyle and needs – whether that is in-person, online, or in a hybrid format,” shared Bergh. “We are very excited to continue to grow this program and support our health care system under Dean Stover’s leadership.”
