{"id":53532,"date":"2025-08-06T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=53532"},"modified":"2025-09-12T10:00:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T15:00:35","slug":"tarleton-state-names-dr-donalyn-alexander-dean-of-school-of-nursing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarleton-state-names-dr-donalyn-alexander-dean-of-school-of-nursing\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarleton State Names Dr. Donalyn Alexander Dean of School of Nursing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University has named Dr. Donalyn Alexander Dean of the School of Nursing, effective Aug. 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Professional
Dr. Donalyn Alexander<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Alexander enters her new role at Tarleton State after leading the Patty Hanks Shelton School of Nursing as Dean since 2019. The program was part of a consortium of McMurry University and Hardin-Simmons University until earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are thrilled to announce the addition of Dr. Donalyn Alexander to lead our School of Nursing,\u201d said Dr. Elizabeth Palmarozzi, Vice President for the Division of Health Sciences. \u201cWith over 30 years of experience in healthcare education and service, she is a fantastic choice to build on the strategic vision of our nursing program. Her professional partnerships and years of dedication will greatly benefit the student experience at Tarleton State.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her leadership time at the Patty Hanks Shelton School of Nursing, Dr. Alexander guided the nursing program through a historic period that was highlighted by a perfect 100% first-time pass rate on the NCLEX-RN exam in 2020. Dating back to 2019, the university has had 90% of first-time test takers pass the exam, well above the state requirement of 80%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before leading the Patty Hanks Shelton School of Nursing, Dr. Alexander spent nearly two decades in the Department of Education and Professional Development at Hendrick Health in Abilene. She has also served as a clinical nurse, clinical instructor, program director and a professor of nursing during her career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am honored to be chosen as Tarleton State University\u2019s Dean of the School of Nursing,\u201d said Dr. Alexander. \u201cTarleton State\u2019s strong commitment to excellence in education and its vision for advancing the future of healthcare deeply resonate with my personal values as a healthcare provider. I look forward to supporting faculty, empowering students and working collaboratively to develop the next generation of compassionate, skilled nursing professionals who will make a lasting impact across Texas and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Alexander earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice in healthcare administration from Oklahoma City University and holds a master\u2019s degree in nursing education from Abilene Christian University. Her bachelor\u2019s degree in nursing is from the University of Central Oklahoma, where she graduated magna cum laude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarleton State\u2019s most recent nursing cohort recorded a 94.67% first-time pass rate on NCLEX-RN exams for the 2024 calendar year. The program, which has full approval from the Texas Board of Nursing and is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, will be celebrating 50 years throughout the upcoming academic year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University has named Dr. Donalyn Alexander Dean of the School of Nursing, effective Aug. 18. Dr. Alexander enters her new role at Tarleton State after …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":382,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,422,423,425,427],"tags":[430,431,439],"class_list":["post-53532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-morestories","category-academics-research","category-campus-community","category-science-health","tag-academic-affairs","tag-administration","tag-division-of-health-sciences"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"brian","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/brian-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2025\/08\/Dr.-Donalyn-Alexander-300x200.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","_morestories<\/a>","Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>","Science & Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","_morestories<\/span>","Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>","Science & Health<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Academic Affairs<\/a>","Administration<\/a>","Division of Health Sciences<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academic Affairs<\/span>","Administration<\/span>","Division of Health Sciences<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 8 months ago","modified":"Updated 7 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 6, 2025","modified":"Updated on September 12, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 6, 2025 1:00 pm","modified":"Updated on September 12, 2025 10:00 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53538,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53532\/revisions\/53538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}