Mullins named SON associate director of graduate programs

Iris Mullins has been named associate director of graduate programs for the School of Nursing (SON) in Radford University’s Waldron College of Health and Human Services.

Mullins has been on the School of Nursing faculty as an associate professor since 2014 and she was promoted from assistant to associate professor while on the SON faculty from 1999-2005.

“I am excited for the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience from a career in nursing education and practice with the graduate program and its students,” said Mullins.  “Radford’s School of Nursing is distinguished by its rigor and its dynamic faculty who help advanced practice nurses become leaders.”

Mullins returned to Radford in 2014 from Auburn University where she was an associate professor of nursing.  Mullins also brings extensive administrative experience from her tenure at New Mexico State University where she served as assistant professor, rural program coordinator and associate director of undergraduate studies.

“Dr. Mullins brings both experience and enthusiasm to our DNP program which is at the cutting edge of preparing advanced health care professionals to serve our communities in so many valuable ways,” SON Director Tony Ramsey said. "Her understanding of the profession and the program and her passion for teaching and research will enhance the program and its growth.”

Mullins earned a Ph. D. in family nursing from Georgia State University in 2003, a Master of Science in Nursing from Troy State in 1994 and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Berea College.  Professionally, Mullins has worked on medical-surgical, pediatric and progressive care units at hospitals, regional medical centers and retirement centers in Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, New Mexico and Kentucky.

Her research into a variety of nursing topics such as health promotion, simulation and caring for HIV/AIDS patients has been published in Clinical Nursing Research:
an International Journal, Clinical Simulation in Nursing, Communicating Nursing Research and Issues in Mental Health Nursing, among others.

“Bringing the results of good research into practice happens in DNP programs,” said Mullins.  “Nursing professionals are challenged to be responsive to the changes that constantly occur in contemporary health care.”

Radford University’s DNP program recently earned re-accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and was awarded a two-year, $1 million Advanced Nursing Education Workforce Grant by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA.)

The two-year HRSA grant will enable Radford University to immerse its advanced practice nursing students in the effort to strengthen health care delivery to rural communities through regional health care providers and agencies in Southwest Virginia and Southside Virginia.

The DNP program, with a 14-member graduate faculty, prepares registered nurses with bachelors or masters degrees in nursing for advanced nursing practice and health care leadership.

The program provides a rigorous practice-oriented terminal degree for working nurses with between 30 and 81 credit hours of online instruction. It further requires up to 1,080 clinical practice hours and a final project of original research.

Graduates of the program then take one of two national board certification tests on which Radford graduates have a 100 percent pass rate. Upon completion of the DNP program, graduates are eligible for certification as Family Nurse Practitioner or Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner.