ASU Names New Nursing Chair

Dr. Wrennah Gabbert, who previously spent 10 years on Angelo State University’s nursing faculty, has returned to ASU as the new chair of the Nursing Department, effective June 1 for the upcoming fall semester.

A professional specialist in the ASU Nursing Department from 1997-2007, Gabbert has spent the last six years at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, filling various teaching and administrative posts at the TTUHSC School of Nursing in Lubbock and TTUHSC Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing in El Paso. Most recently, she served as a professor and the senior associate academic dean for the School of Nursing at the TTUHSC El Paso campus. At ASU, she will replace Dr. Susan Wilkinson as chair of the Nursing Department.

“Dr. Gabbert has a very impressive background and we are so happy she is joining us,” said Dr. Leslie Mayrand, College of Health and Human Services dean. “Meanwhile, at her own request, Dr. Wilkinson will return to the faculty after providing outstanding leadership to the nursing program for the past six years.”

Gabbert’s administrative experience will be utilized immediately as the ASU nursing program returns to its status as a separate academic department and faces an upcoming site visit and evaluation for accreditation by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).

“I feel my experience and expertise in curriculum and program development, as a CCNE site visitor, and as an associate academic dean will facilitate and support our hard-working faculty and staff during our upcoming CCNE accreditation site visit for the nursing programs,” Gabbert said, “and as we continue to work and collaborate to develop curriculum and programs to meet the needs of our students, communities and stakeholders.”

In addition to her faculty and administrative roles at ASU and TTUHSC, Gabbert has served as a primary care nurse practitioner, outreach nurse, nurse educator and director of education at various health care facilities and hospitals in Texas and Arizona. She holds an associate degree from Tarrant County Junior College; bachelor’s and master’s nursing degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington; pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) and family nurse practitioner (FNP) certifications from UTA; and a doctoral degree from Capella University in Minneapolis.

Returning to ASU is also a personal homecoming for Gabbert, a West Texas native who raised her family in San Angelo.

“We have many friends and family here,” Gabbert said, “so we feel we are coming home after an extended ‘trip’ to Lubbock and El Paso.”