Baptist Health Sciences University is honored to introduce Cathy Stepter, DNP, RN, AGACNP-BC, ACNS-BC, CNE, as the incoming Dean of the Division of Nursing.
“Dr. Stepter’s 18 years teaching in the Baptist system, in addition to her leadership role as Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program chair and professor, starting and overseeing the DNP program at Baptist University, have prepared her for this new role. She will serve the University, our students, our professors and our community well,” said Anne Plumb, DNSc, RN, who is retiring from her role as Dean of Nursing.
Dr. Stepter oversaw the creation of the Doctor of Nursing program at Baptist Health Sciences University in 2018, serving as the inaugural program chair. In addition to her work at BHSU, Dr. Stepter served as Associate Professor of Nursing and Assistant Professor of Nursing. She also worked as a registered nurse in the Baptist Memorial Health Care system from 1992 until 2009, when she began teaching full time.
In her new role, she will continue to grow enrollment in the traditional BSN, RN-BSN completion, and DNP programs to help meet our communities’ health care needs.
Dr. Stepter was a fellow in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s 2021 Elevating Leaders in Academic Nursing program. Through her work, she secured grant funding for a student mentoring program and helped establish a clinical nurse residency program.
Dr. Stepter earned her nursing diploma from the then-Baptist School of Nursing in 1992 and has gone on to earn several more degrees: Bachelor of Science in nursing from Union University in 1995; Master of Science in nursing, adult health clinical nurse specialist, from Arkansas State University in 2001; a Doctorate in Nurse Practice from Georgia Southern University in 2012 and a post master’s certificate in adult-gerontology from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She is licensed as an advanced practice nurse in Tennessee and Mississippi.
To contact Dr. Stepter, please feel free to email or call her at 901-572-2505 or cathy.stepter@baptistu.edu.
