University officials recently announced that Dr. ann Carruth, professor of nursing and the coordinator of the graduate nursing program, has been named Dean of the College of Nursing. She is a 1984 graduate of Southeastern.
“I have been at Southeastern since 1990 and plan to stay here until I retire.  I love Southeastern,” said Carruth. “As a graduate from the undergraduate nursing program, it is with great pride that I have been able to work to educate nurses for the region. And as dean, I have learned so much about CSD and Kinesiology and Health Studies. Our college is unique because the Health Center is also part of the college.”
Carruth has native roots by her mother, who is originally from Bogalusa, La. Her father from Pennsylvania had a career with the military, so they were forced to move many times. Before making her decision to start her college career at Southeastern, she graduated from Salmen High School in Slidell, La. Carruth and her husband currently take residence in Hammond not far from campus, along with their dog Frisco. Her hobbies include activities such as walking, shopping, drinking coffee with friends and traveling; seeing as she has family as close as Albany and Baton Rouge and as far as Texas and Rota, Spain.
“Believe it or not, I had a family friend who introduced me to Southeastern while I was a sophomore at Niceville High School (Florida),” said Carruth. “I made a campus visit and fell in love with Hammond and the campus at that time. There was never any question about coming here to school once we moved to Louisiana.”
Carruth is qualified through three degrees, a BS in nursing from Southeastern, a MSN from the University of Mississippi Medical Center and a DNS from Louisiana State University HSC.
“I graduated with a master’s degree in nursing in 1989,” said Carruth. “At that time, I went to work taking care of cancer patients, working the ‘weekend program’ As it turns out Donnie Booth approached me at a Tangipahoa District Nurses Association meeting and said, ‘I heard you graduated recently, would you be interested in teaching part time.’ I was hooked I love teaching and I love the professional growth that comes from being part of this educational system,”
The nursing department at Southeastern has recently added in a new program and many new additions to aid and better students in their declared nursing concentration.
“We are proud of undergraduate and graduate nursing students. We are thrilled that we will start a DNP program in the fall. The DNP is a practice degree designed to prepare graduates at the highest level of nursing practice to provide complex hospital and community-based care for patients and families; to design and evaluate nursing and health care systems; and to address the shortage of advanced nursing practice professionals to mentor and educate nursing students,” said Carruth. “We have three departments and a health center. Each department has areas that they will decide need improvement. We continually strive to meet the needs of faculty and students so there is not one area of improvement that can be identified.  We want to always think about how we can recognize the high caliber of faculty, promote scholarship and ensure access to quality educational experiences.”
Although Carruth was not officially named dean of nursing until April 30, 2012, she has held the position of interim since Jan. 17, 2011.
“My entire career at Southeastern has been a dream job. There has never been a day where I dreaded coming to work. How many people can say that about what they do in life?” said Carruth. “I won’t deny there are many challenges. But I know that I work with people who care about this organization, who care about students and care about what we do every day. I feel blessed.”