Cranley, UB's "Senior Dean," Stepping Down as Dean of School of Nursing

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Mecca S. Cranley, Ph.D., who has served as dean of UB's School of Nursing since 1991, has announced that she is stepping down at the end of the current academic year.

Cranley, who will remain on the school's faculty and then plans to retire in January 2008, has the longest tenure among the university's 12 deans.

David L. Dunn, UB vice president for health sciences, said a national search will be conducted to identify Cranley's successor, with a goal of having a new dean in place at the beginning of the 2007-08 academic year.

Praising Cranley, Dunn said the nursing school "has been fortunate to have such a dynamic and influential dean who was able to recruit stellar faculty, build new programs and foster a high level of academic achievement. Dean Cranley's determination, tenacity -- not to mention her wry wit -- will be sorely missed".

Cranley, in announcing her plans, noted, "I'm gratified to leave the School of Nursing in a strong position.

"During the past 15 years, with the help of many terrific faculty and staff, we've increased our enrollment through several innovative new academic degree and certificate programs, and aggressively pursued research dollars. This past year alone, we've jumped from 73rd to 43rd among U.S. nursing schools in terms of funding from the National Institutes of Health."

Cranley said the "best part" about being dean "has been seeing our graduates become leaders in every arena of nursing. They are practitioners in migrant clinics and homeless shelters, consultants and specialists in tertiary referral institutions, midwives, researchers, faculty members, and deans.

"In all, it's been a very exciting time," she said. "I'm thrilled with what we've accomplished, and I leave knowing that great things lie ahead."

Satish K. Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, said that during her 15 years as dean, "Mecca has been the 'exception not the rule.'"

Tripathi added: "She has been exceptional because of her dedication to UB and her faculty; her progressive approach to nursing education; her mission to improve the health and well-being of members of our broader communities through a sustained focus on innovative interdisciplinary nursing research and clinical education; and because of her genuine care and compassion for her students."

"Mecca will be greatly missed," Tripathi added. "But my colleagues and I are comforted by the knowledge that during her tenure, she has extended her gifts of knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and true passion for the broad field of nursing and nursing education to countless students who are -- and will be -- carrying forward these values in their professional roles as today's and tomorrow's health-care practitioners, senior health-care administrators, faculty, and university leaders."

UB President John B. Simpson noted, "With Mecca at the helm, UB's nursing school has become nationally known for its innovative, interdisciplinary degree programs and for the quality of its research faculty. Just as importantly, it has become renowned in our region and beyond for educating and training nursing practitioners, researchers and scholars who are quite simply among the best in the field.

"While we are very sorry to see her go," Simpson added, "she has left the School of Nursing very well positioned for continued growth and success, and we are deeply grateful for the lasting impact her leadership will have."

Cranley, who was named professor and dean in the UB School of Nursing in January 1991, said the greatest challenge as dean of the school "has been to help to address the regional and national shortage of nurses and faculty to train nurses.

"We initiated a Ph.D. program two years ago to replace our existing Doctor of Nursing Science, and it has been very successful in attracting faculty-quality candidates," she noted. "One of our most innovative programs is the Accelerated Baccalaureate Program, a fast-track degree program that allows persons who hold a bachelor's degree in another field to receive a bachelor's of science in nursing in 12 months. This program is bringing more nurses into the field, as well as providing a promising new career path for Western New York residents whose jobs have been cut or outsourced."

She added that as a result of an increase by SUNY in the school's base budget, it will be hiring three additional full-time faculty and increasing its basic baccalaureate class from 88 to 104 and accelerated baccalaureate program class from 23 to 48 by the 2007-2008 academic year.

At UB, Cranley's service activities have included membership on the provost search committee in 1999, and chairing the search committees for the dean of the Graduate School of Education and the dean of the School of Social Work. She is a member of the executive committee of the Association of Woman Professors and the UB Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender.

An active participant in health care activities on the local, state and national level, Cranley is a member of the U.S. Pharmacopeia Convention Inc.'s advisory panel on nursing practice, and chaired two task forces for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

She serves on the Governor's Board of the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant Advisory Council; the Governor's Board of the Healthcare Trustees of New York State, the board of directors of the Catholic Health System, Inc., and the Western New York Commission on Health Care Reform.

Cranley is an on-site evaluator for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and has held leadership positions in the American Nurses Association, National Perinatal Association, the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and the New York State Nurses Association.

Prior to joining UB, Cranley was affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing for 17 years. She was director of the graduate program there from 1985-87 and held the title of professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the time she was named dean at UB. She was the recipient of the Callon-Leonard Award from the Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care.

Cranley is a pioneer in modern understanding of mother-infant bonding.  In 1984, she developed a tool to measure maternal attachment that has been translated into several languages and continues to be used for research today.

A graduate of St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, Ind., Cranley holds a master's degree in maternal-child nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a doctorate in family studies from the university's Department of Child and Family Studies.

Before joining the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, Cranley was a clinical specialist with the Wisconsin Perinatal Center and, prior to that, a staff nurse in obstetrics at St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center in Madison. She previously served on the faculties of the St. John's Hospital School of Nursing in Tulsa, Okla.; St. Anthony's Hospital School of Nursing in Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Holy Cross Central School of Nursing, South Bend, Ind.