Nuvance teams with Sacred Heart University on new nursing education chair

Sacred Heart University (SHU) and Nuvance Health have partnered to create the Nuvance Health Sacred Heart University Chair of Nursing Education, Research and Innovation.

According to a press statement issued by the organizations, the new chair will “collaborate with Nuvance Health and SHU stakeholders to “help further the missions of both organizations and will establish a vision for nursing practice, education, research and innovation. He or she will leverage best practices to develop programs and initiatives that further the practice of nursing.”

Karen Daley, dean of the university”™s Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., and Richard J. Henley College of Nursing, said the chair will focus on research that will address the ongoing nursing shortage.

“If our research can discover why this is happening, we can develop new clinical models that will better teach them what to expect and more fully prepare them for actual practice. This is one example of research that would be a win-win for both Nuvance Health and SHU,” Daley said.

“I expect the candidate we bring into this new position will help Nuvance Health and Sacred Heart University position themselves as thought leaders for how the world of nursing will look in the years and decades to come,” added Dereck DeLeon, chief academic officer for Nuvance Health.

The chair will report to DeLeon three days a week and to Daley two days a week. Nuvance Health is conducting the hiring search to fill the position and will pay the salary and benefits.

SHU is based in Fairfield and the hospitals in the Nuvance Health system include Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon hospitals in Connecticut, and Northern Dutchess Hospital, Putnam Hospital and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in New York.