Jean Bartels

Jean Bartels, the chair of Georgia Southern University's School of Nursing, has been elected to serve a two-year term as president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Bartels assumed the presidency at the AACN's annual meeting in March in Washington, D.C.

Bartels has served on the AACN Board of Directors since 1995 in the roles of president-elect, secretary, program committee chair, task force leader and columnist for the Journal of Professional Nursing. As the chair of the Task Force on Education and Regulation for Professional Nursing Practice, she provided the guidance and leadership needed for the AACN to move forward with the creation of a new nursing role called the clinical nurse leader.

As a member of the Steering Committee for the Creation of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, Bartels helped to lay the foundation for the CCNE to become the leading accrediting body for baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs.

She has presented testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workplace, served as faculty for a national community-based education project funded by the Helene Fuld Health Trust and is a frequent presenter before national groups, including the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce.

Prior to her appointment to Georgia Southern University in 1999, Bartels served in a variety of roles at Alverno College in Milwaukee.

Bartels serves on the Georgia Board of Nursing Education Committee and is president of the Ogeechee Area Hospice Board of Directors. She also provides regional, national and international consultations on accreditation processes, community-based nursing education, outcome assessment, performance assessments and in other areas.

- Georgia Southern University