Shenandoah University’s Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing is pleased to announce that Professor Emerita Marian Newton, Ph.D., RN, PMHCNS-BC, PMHNP-BC, ANEF, has been selected to be a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
Dr. Newton is an adjunct professor of nursing at SU and previously served as assistant dean for advising, retention and progress and director of the psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner program in the Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing.
Induction into the American Academy of Nursing is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career, one in which their accomplishments are honored by their colleagues within and outside the profession. Fellows are selected based on their contributions and impact to advance the public’s health.
The academy is a policy organization and an honorific society that recognizes nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, practice, administration, and academia to advance equitable solutions to the nation’s most complex health care challenges. Academy fellows, who come from over 40 countries, hold a wide variety of influential roles in health care.
Induction into the fellowship represents more than recognition of one’s accomplishments within the nursing profession. Fellows contribute their collective expertise to the academy, engaging with health leaders nationally and globally to improve health and achieve health equity by impacting policy through nursing leadership, innovation and science.
I am profoundly honored to be selected to be inducted as a FAAN on Oct. 7. I never imagined such an honor in my nursing life, which began as an associate degree student in 1962, in St. Petersburg, Florida. My 50-year employment career includes a diverse record of collegiate teaching and scholarship and clinical practice, concurrent with extensive volunteer service and leadership at local, state and national levels, especially in psychiatric-mental health nursing for the past 30 years. Since 1973, I have striven to inspire a devotion in nursing students to make patients’ emotional and physical well-being their highest professional priority, and since 1994, I have educated and facilitated certification of several hundred psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner students, who, like me, provide care to many underserved patients.”
Marian Newton, Ph.D., RN, adjunct professor of nursing at Shenandoah University
Newton founded and directed the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program at Shenandoah University from 2004 to 2020, producing 90 graduates. Since 1973, she has taught medical-surgical and psychiatric nursing, and pharmacology at seven U.S. schools. She practiced psychiatric nursing at the Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Albany, New York, from 1986-1996. In 2004, she co-developed a monthly free mental health clinic at the Sinclair Health Clinic in Winchester, Virginia.
Newton’s previous honors include service on the Content Expert Panel for the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) inaugural PMHNP Certification Exam from 1999-2006; being appointed a fellow in the National League of Nursing (NLN) Academy of Nursing Education in 2014; and being named in 2016 as one of 60 Gator Nurse Greats out of the 10,000 graduates from the first 60 years of the University of Florida’s College of Nursing. Newton has authored or co-authored 43 journal articles and nine book chapters. She earned an associate’s degree in nursing from St. Petersburg Junior College in Florida, a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in nursing from the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in pharmacology and psychopharmacology from the University of Nebraska.
We are so proud of Dr. Marian Newton for her selection as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. This well-deserved honor recognizes Dr. Newton’s commitment and passion for nursing education.”
Lisa Levinson, Ph.D., RN, interim dean of Shenandoah’s School of Nursing
Through a competitive, rigorous application process, the academy’s Fellow Selection Committee reviewed nearly 400 applications to select the 2023 fellows. The 2023 fellows represent 40 states, the District of Columbia, and 13 countries.
Newton and the 2023 inductees will be recognized for their substantial, sustained and significant contributions to health and health care at the academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, taking place on Oct. 5-7 in Washington, D.C. The induction ceremony takes place on Oct. 7. This is a historic year for the academy, as the organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Once the newest fellows are inducted, the academy will be composed of more than 3,000 leaders who are experts in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia that champion health and wellness, locally and globally.
Learn more about the academy by visiting aannet.org, and visit the policy conference website at academypolicyconference.com for more details. For individuals interested in attending the induction ceremony, tickets can be purchased online at aannet.org.
About the American Academy of Nursing
The American Academy of Nursing serves the public by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Academy fellows are inducted into the organization for their extraordinary contributions to improve health locally and globally. With more than 2,900 fellows, the academy represents nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia.
