Following an extensive national search, Ramona Parker, PhD, EdM, has been selected Associate Vice President and Executive Dean for Tarleton State University’s realigned College of Health Sciences, effective June 15, pending approval by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.
The college includes Tarleton’s nationally recognized School of Nursing and School of Kinesiology and the inaugural School of Allied Health, home to new physical therapy, occupational therapy and physician assistant programs.
In its regular session, the 87th Legislature appropriated $2 million for Tarleton to develop these and other programs. Last fall lawmakers approved $25 million to expand the Fort Worth campus and $65 million to construct and outfit a new College of Health Sciences building in Stephenville.
“The increasing need for regional healthcare practitioners and the investment by our Legislature makes it imperative that we have the right person here,” said Dr. Diane Stearns, university Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. “That person is Dr. Ramona Parker.”
Currently Associate Dean of Medical and Interprofessional Education at the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine – one of the newest such schools in Texas — Dr. Parker was instrumental in developing curriculum for the DO program and securing a seven-year endorsement from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.
In her 18 years at UIW she served, among several leadership roles, as Director of the Clinical Learning Center in the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions.
“I am truly honored to join the extraordinary talent at Tarleton,” Dr. Parker said. “Together we will build a 21st century educational model to meet the healthcare needs of North Central Texas and provide a prototype for other institutions.”
She was inducted into the National Academies of Practice as a Distinguished Nursing Fellow and Scholar in 2014 and the Educators Hall of Fame (National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa Inc. Gamma Tau Chapter) in 2011. She also received UIW’s School of Nursing Transformational Leadership Award.
Active in her community, she serves on the board for the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio and the San Antonio Ladies of the Talented Tenth. She is a Past President of the Delta Alpha at-Large Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
Dr. Parker holds a doctorate in nursing from the University of Texas at Austin. She received her master’s in nursing from UIW and a master’s in education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her bachelor’s in nursing is from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.