Dean Sarah Thompson, PhD, RN, FAAN, recently announced that John Welton, PhD, RN, Senior Scientist in Health Systems Research and Director of the Colorado Collaborative for Nursing Research (CCNR), will assume the role of Director of the PhD Program effective immediately.

“The CU College of Nursing offers Colorado’s only nursing research doctoral program,” says Thompson. “The future nurse scientists in this program will benefit from Dr. Welton’s expertise in research and health care systems, and his connections through the CCNR.”

Welton's career research interests involve several interesting questions: How much does nursing care cost? How can we build a better nursing care system to improve efficiency, effectiveness, performance, quality, and ultimately the value of the work nurses provide to their patients? He began researching these interests during his master's studies at University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where his nursing administration thesis project was a financial analysis of, and business plan for, an air-ambulance company. After his success with this project, Welton became a nurse entrepreneur, launching National Medevac, Inc. before he decided to complete his PhD in nursing systems at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

After completing his PhD, his academic career path took him to the University of Maryland School of Nursing, to Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, to Florida Southern College, and finally to CU College of Nursing in 2013.

Welton has received of several awards, including the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) Foundation Nurse Researcher Award; the South Carolina League for Nursing Award for Excellence; the South Carolina Governor’s Distinguished Professor Award; the Medical University of South Carolina Teaching Excellence award; Educator/Lecturer of the Year; Palmetto Gold; South Carolina Best-100 nurses; and North Carolina Great-100 Nurses.

“It’s an honor to be selected from a pool of very capable candidates. I see tremendous potential for CU College of Nursing to become a world-class leader in nursing PhD education, and I am looking forward to working with the talented and exceptional group of faculty and students who compose the PhD program,” Welton says.

Linda Flynn, PhD, RN, FAAN, the former PhD program director, assumed the role of associate dean for academic programs last summer after Kathy Magilvy's, PhD, RN, FAAN, retirement.