News Release
November 1998
Janet Askew Sipple, R.N., Ed.D., the Dean of the School
of Nursing at St. Luke’s Hospital has been appointed Professor
and Chairperson of the newly established St. Luke’s Hospital Commemorative
School of Nursing at Moravian College.
A native of North Carolina, Dr. Sipple came to St. Luke’s
Hospital in 1995 to lead the transition of the diploma nursing program
to baccalaureate degree status. Moravian College and St. Luke’s
Hospital announced their partnership earlier this year to establish
the new degree program. The Nursing Department at Moravian College opened
in August 1998 and recruitment has begun for the class entering the
College in fall of 1999.
Dr. Sipple came to St. Luke’s from Barnes College
of Nursing at the University of Missouri – St. Louis where she
served as associate professor and associate dean for the undergraduate
College of Nursing. A professional nurse for 30 years, Sipple earned
a BSN from West Virginia University School of Nursing, and a MSN from
the University of North Carolina School of Nursing (Chapel Hill). In
1989, Sipple earned a doctorate at the University of South Carolina.
Sipple holds a post-master certificate as an adult nurse practitioner.
While at Barnes College, she led a merger effort with the University
of Missouri in the area of nursing studies, overseeing the transition
from a diploma program to a free-standing baccalaureate college.
Sipple says she came to St. Luke’s with an interest
in "designing nursing education for the 21st century." Her
responsibilities at St. Luke’s School of Nursing have included
serving as an academic leader to guide the institution in defining the
future vision for nursing education. The Hospital and College boards
agreed to establish an affiliation that will bring the best of liberal
arts education together with excellent clinical education to delivery
a premier nursing education at the baccalaureate degree level. The first
class of nursing students at Moravian College will enter the new program
in Fall 1999.
Sipple has been a visiting consultant and professor at
Lander University, the University of Tennessee – Nashville, and
the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, where she helped guide
the introduction of baccalaureate nursing education at each institution.
As a result of her work with curriculum design and implementation in
Australia, Sipple established in 1990 the Australian-American Nurses
Exchange, an international exchange program for nursing professionals.
Sipple returned in September from the most recent exchange in Australia.
The Nursing Department at Moravian College may be reached
at 861-1607.
