University of California, Irvine named Mark Lazenby dean of the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing effective Jan. 1, 2022.
“Our School of Nursing is poised for growth, and Mark Lazenby is the right leader to move us forward,” UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement. “His interdisciplinary expertise will be critical as we reinvent the future of nursing.”
Lazenby is currently a professor of nursing and philosophy at the University of Connecticut and an associate dean for its School of Nursing. His duties there include education; oversight of the school’s honors programs; and diversity, equity and inclusion: all of which are areas of focus for UCI.
His academic specialty is nursing philosophy.
“Nursing, at its heart, is very philosophical.” Lazenby said. “They are present at our birth and death, and help us through life’s tough questions.”
Lazenby earned his Ph.D. in philosophy of religion at Boston University and an M.S.N. from the Yale University School of Nursing. He has also held faculty positions at Gwynedd-Mercy College, Yale University and the University of Connecticut.
He became an oncology and palliative care nurse practitioner during his career as a professional philosopher after witnessing the care nurses showed his loved ones, Lazenby said.
“My vision is that the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing will leverage its strengths in interdisciplinary research and practice, community engagement, and inter-professional education to set a blueprint for the profession and the nation on how to achieve health equity today and prepare nurse leaders for the future of health,” Lazenby said.
The nursing school’s founding dean, Adey Nyamathi, will continue to serve through the end of the calendar year.
