Associate Professor Debbie Arnow, DNP’11, MSN’96, has been selected as the new academic director for the Nursing and Health Care Leadership specialty in the master of science in nursing program at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.
“Debbie Arnow is an accomplished senior nurse executive with experience in delivering successful clinical outcomes, financial performance and personnel management,” said Senior Associate Dean for Academics Mavis Schorn, PhD, APRN, FACNM, FNAP, FAAN. “With her combined experience in executive leadership and academics, Debbie will provide expertise and innovation for students who aspire to senior leadership positions in health care.”
Before joining VUSN full-time in 2018, Arnow was senior vice president, patient care services and chief nursing officer at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska. In that role, she oversaw the institution’s third American Nurse Credentialing Center Magnet designation, as well as developed a nursing education department, established a center for advance practice providers, and led and managed the nursing workforce. No stranger to Nashville, Arnow spent 20 years in increasingly responsible leadership positions at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, advancing from manager to director of clinical education and professional development.
She began her academic career at Aquinas College in 1997. She taught at VUSN from 2005-2015 and at the University of Nebraska College of Nursing from 2015-2018. She teaches in both the DNP and MSN programs at Vanderbilt.
Arnow has a bachelor of science in nursing from Texas Woman’s University and earned both her master of science in nursing and doctor of nursing practice degrees from VUSN. She is a board-certified nurse executive, advanced, and a past Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Executive Fellow. Currently, she serves as a member and treasurer of the board of directors for the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board. She has served on the Nebraska March of Dimes Board of Directors, and is a member, and past president, of the Society of Pediatric Nurses.
Arnow succeeds Associate Professor Richard Watters, PhD, RN, who will retire later this year.