ASU College of Nursing dean finalists set to give final presentations

Three finalists for the dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions at Arkansas State University will visit the campus this week and next week for search committee interviews and campus presentations, Provost Alan Utter said.

The chair of the search committee, Dean of Sciences and Mathematics Lynn Boyd, said the committee named three finalists, Dr. Hal Strough of Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Dr. Shawn Drake of Arkansas State University; and Dr. Scott Gordon of Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga.

Each candidate will make a public presentation open to the campus community during their visit to ASU. All three sessions will be in the Health, Physical Education and Sport Sciences (HPESS) building.

Strough is the first finalist on Thursday, (April 29). Currently, associate dean of the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences at Nova Southeastern University since 2016, Strough previously was founding department chair, program director and assistant professor of athletic training in the School of Health Sciences at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn.

A graduate of Central Michigan University, he completed his master’s in sports administration at Eastern Kentucky University, and his Ph.D. in sports psychology at Purdue University.

Drake is the second finalist, and will present Monday (May 3). Currently a full professor and department chair of the Department of Physical Therapy at Arkansas State, she also serves as assistant dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions. Drake joined the ASU faculty in 2002, previously serving as an assistant professor at Valdosta State University.

A graduate of Arkansas State, she earned her master’s degree in physical education and exercise science from ASU prior to completing her Ph.D. in human performance at Southern Mississippi. Drake also earned a second master’s degree, in physical therapy, at ASU.

Gordon is the third finalist, and will present Friday, (May 7). After becoming associate dean of the WellStar College of Health and Human Services and professor at Kennesaw State University in 2017, he served almost a year as interim dean. Previously, he was department chair and professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

A graduate of Bowdoin College, he earned his master’s degree in exercise physiology and his Ph.D. in physiology, both at Penn State.