Mount Aloysius College President Tom Foley has announced that Rebecca S. Zukowski, has joined the College as Associate Academic Dean and Nursing Division Chairperson. She comes to Mount Aloysius from the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Rockville, Md. where she served as a senior research associate.
In making the announcement, Mount Aloysius President Foley noted the unanimous recognition and acceptance of Ms. Zukowski’s excellent leadership and academic credentials. “Rebecca Zukowski brings very strong credentials and the full support of our nursing faculty and college leadership to her new post,” he said. “A former Navy nurse, she served at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital in the 1980’s. She then built a stellar career in the fields of research and strategic planning in public and non-profit sectors and patient care. The entire Mount Aloysius College community welcomes this proven leader with open arms and great expectations.” He added, “We are all very excited to have her join our team and lead our Nursing Division.”
Dr. Timothy Fulop, senior vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty at Mount Aloysius College expressed his enthusiasm in having Ms. Zukowski lead the Nursing Division of the College. “Rebecca Zukowski brings a new level of leadership and academic rigor to an already strong nursing program here at Mount Aloysius College,” he said. “The range of expertise she brings to our program, and her inherent championship of nursing education bodes well for the future of Nursing at Mount Aloysius and for this entire region.”
Most recently, Dean Zukowski served in a senior leadership role at the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health. The National Center was created by Presidential Directive HSPD-21 to lead Federal efforts to develop and propagate core curricula, training and research in disaster medicine. Since 2009, Ms. Zukowski has worked in support of the Center’s mission and has led efforts to evaluate education and training associated with select Navy-sponsored humanitarian assistance and disaster response missions. This work has afforded her the opportunity to travel on two occasions with the United States military aboard Navy ships – the USS Iwo Jima in 2010 and the hospital ship the USNS Comfort in 2011. While aboard, Ms. Zukowski and her colleagues completed a program evaluation to assess learning needs of embarked medical personnel and provided recommendations to the United States Southern Command following mission completion.
Prior to joining the National Center ‘s staff, Ms. Zukowski served as the executive officer for Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) Research Institute’s Business and Technology Group (BTG) where she was instrumental in leading the group’s development of technology innovation for the Civil Support Teams of the National Guard Bureau. The technology developed by BTG provided these highly specialized teams with a common operating picture in support of mission operations. In her role with BTG, Ms. Zukowski‘s responsibilities included maintaining operations and strategy development for multiple grants and contracts while supporting the overall research enterprise of the business and technology division. During her tenure with BTG, Ms. Zukowski worked collaboratively with faculty members, academic leadership, community members, the military and private industry.
Throughout her 30-year nursing career, the new Mount Aloysius associate dean served several prestigious organizations throughout Western Pennsylvania including UPMC, FSC Marketing Communications, VNA Western Pennsylvania, Southwestern Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center (AHEC), Forbes Health System and Ohio Valley School of Nursing.
Dean Zukowski is a veteran of the United States Navy, where she served as a nurse corps officer at Great Lakes Naval Hospital and as an instructor at Naval Hospital Corps School. She received an honorable discharge in 1988. Ms. Zukowski holds an active license as a registered nurse in the State of Pennsylvania and is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP ). Her bibliography lists numerous publications and scholarly activities. She has presented on a variety of clinical, managerial and educational subjects throughout the United States.
Active in community organizations, Ms. Zukowski serves as board chairperson for Family Services of Western PA. In addition, she is a member of the American Nurses Association (ANA), Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, American Public Health Association, Project Management Institute (PMI), Sigma Theta Tau International, and the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps Association.
The new Mount Aloysius College associate dean received her Bachelor of Science from Carlow College in Pittsburgh, Pa. with a dual major in Nursing and English. Her Master of Science in Nursing is from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis. with a specialty focus as an adult practitioner/ teacher. Currently she is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include community resilience to disasters, core competencies for medical disaster response, and health care access for vulnerable populations.
Rebecca Zukowski and her husband, Mark, reside at Penn Run, Pa. The couple has two children, David and Stefanie.
Learn more about the nursing program at Mount Aloysius.
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