LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) announced that Sarah Jane Rhoads, Ph.D., DNP, a native Arkansan and former faculty member, is returning to UAMS as the next dean of the College of Nursing, effective Sept. 1.

 

She replaces Patricia Cowan, Ph.D., RN, who is retiring after a nearly 40-year career in nursing, including a decade of leading the College of Nursing.

 

“We are delighted that Dr. Sarah Jane Rhoads is returning to Arkansas and UAMS to lead our College of Nursing,” said Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, UAMS chancellor and CEO of UAMS Health. “Dr. Patty Cowan has done an amazing job as dean, leading the college to successes in academic achievement, educational quality, scholarly activity and adapting to address nursing workforce needs.”

 

Rhoads joins UAMS from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, where she is professor and chair of the Department of Community and Population Health in the College of Nursing. She also held joint faculty appointments in the UT colleges of Medicine and Graduate Health Sciences since arriving in 2018.

 

Prior to that, Rhoads was a UAMS faculty member for nearly 20 years after being first appointed as an assistant clinical instructor in the College of Nursing in 1999. By 2018, she was a tenured associate professor in the College of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology with a joint appointment in the College of Nursing as an associate professor.

 

While at UAMS, she also served as director and principal investigator from 2010-2018 for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded South Central Telehealth Resource Center. Her other leadership roles at UAMS highlighted the intersection of her research interests in digital health, care quality, education and maternal health.

 

She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Nursing Science and Ph.D. in Nursing at UAMS. She received her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the UT Health Science Center’s College of Nursing. She is certified as a nurse practitioner in women’s health and inpatient obstetrics. Her many honors include being named one of the Great 100 Nurses of Arkansas in 2017.