Written by Julia Rodriquez, Staff Writer

Sheri Noviello keeps us healthy by ensuring that our nurses are properly educated.  Noviello is VSU’s new dean for the College of Nursing.

She joined VSU in April of 2014 as an associate dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Three months later she was appointed interim dean and is now dean.  She has been a nurse for almost 30 years and is where she is now through hard work and going through many stages in her career.

One of Noviello’s bridges from nurse to dean was being an educator.

“While I was in my undergraduate program I realized that I wanted to teach, so that I could make a difference,” Noviello said.

Noviello also said that once she became a nurse educator, she observed those in leadership roles and thought about how she would do things differently.  From then on she has been advancing her career to be where she is now.  She previously worked at Columbus State University as director of the School of Nursing, and then came to VSU to advance in her professional goals even further.

As dean, a few of her duties include faculty management, facilitating new programs and overseeing the college.  She particularly enjoys that she is overseeing the Health Sciences portion of the college, as that is new to her.

“I think that we have a great group of faculty and they’re working very hard to bring a new level of excellence to our programs,” Noviello said.

Noviello mentioned that although she does not get to interact with students as much as she’d like to, she really enjoys having them around.

“I am very interested in what they [the students] have to say and their educational experiences and what I can do to help make their experiences at Valdosta State the best…,” Noviello said. “I feel like I have a personal responsibility of making their experience an excellent experience.”

The College of Nursing and Health Sciences’ new dean is proving to be an excellent addition to the school.