UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Paula Milone-Nuzzo, professor and dean of the College of Nursing, has been named the new president of the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Milone-Nuzzo will end her tenure at Penn State in August and a national search for her replacement will begin immediately.
MGH Institute of Health Professions is an independent graduate school in Boston founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and the only degree-granting affiliate of Partners HealthCare.
Milone-Nuzzo joined the Penn State faculty in 2003 as director of the then–School of Nursing. She became dean of the school in 2008. In 2013, when the School of Nursing was granted college status, she assumed her current title as dean of the college. She will begin her new appointment at the MGH Institute in August.
“Dean Milone-Nuzzo has been a champion for nursing and nursing education not only at Penn State, but also across the country,” said Nick Jones, Penn State provost and executive vice president. “We are grateful for her leadership at the University. We will begin the search for a new dean who can provide the leadership and vision to build up her many accomplishments and advance the College of Nursing as a premier institution.”
Milone-Nuzzo spearheaded Nursing’s transition from a school to a full-fledged academic college at Penn State, becoming its inaugural dean. She established the college’s Center for Nursing Research, providing a centralized resource to support nursing faculty research and boost research-related activities. The College of Nursing research portfolio has grown substantially in the last several years.
Working with the nursing program at the campuses, Milone-Nuzzo transformed the nursing curriculum at Penn State, phasing out the associate degree programs and replacing them with baccalaureate degree programs. She added new options in the graduate program and expanded the college’s alumni outreach. Under her leadership, the College of Nursing began the first online doctoral program offered at Penn State through its World Campus.
In an effort to help improve health care for Penn State employees, Milone-Nuzzo envisioned an on-campus health and wellness facility. The new Penn State Employee Health and Wellness Center opened in February 2017. Staffed by nurse practitioners, the clinic provides episodic care to University faculty and staff.
“The last 14 years have provided me with an opportunity to work with amazing faculty, exceptional students, committed staff and engaged alumni,” said Milone-Nuzzo. “The Penn State College of Nursing is shaping the future of health care. I am confident the College of Nursing community will continue to have a significant impact on health care.”
Before joining Penn State, she served as a professor and associate dean for academic affairs at Yale School of Nursing.
Milone-Nuzzo is chair of the advisory board of the Pennsylvania Action Coalition, an arm of the Robert Wood Johnson Future of Nursing Campaign for Action, and treasurer and executive board member for the American Academy of Nursing. She served as president of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Nursing Schools Association and was appointed by former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to serve on the Leadership Council for the Center for Health Careers for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 2004 to 2010. She is the current board chair for the Mount Nittany Medical Center.
She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and a Fellow for Hospice and Homecare. Milone-Nuzzo’s awards include the Connecticut Association for Home Care’s Outstanding Achievement Award, Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Connecticut, the 2016 Student Nurses’ Association of Pennsylvania Honorary Member Award, the 2016 Distinguished Colleague Award from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Nursing Schools Association, the American Journal of Nursing’s Book of the Year Award, and a special recognition from the Visiting Nurse Association’s Hospital Community Consortium of South Central Connecticut. In April, she will receive the 2017 Leader of Leaders Award from the National Student Nurses’ Association, which honors distinguished support and service to nursing students.
Milone-Nuzzo received her associate degree in nursing from Quinnipiac College, her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Boston College, her master’s in community health nursing and education from the University of Connecticut, and her doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Connecticut.