Dr. Virginia W. Adams
Virginia Watson Adams, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a native of Durham, NC, and has a history of public service on local, state, national and international levels. Her past career included Dean and Professor of the UNC Wilmington School of Nursing in Wilmington NC and Inaugural Director of Diversity and Global Initiatives at the National League for Nursing in Washington D.C.
A Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, Dr. Adams has an expansive career in nursing practice and education, including faculty, department chair and dean on the university level. During her 13-year career in the military, she served active duty with the Strategic Air Command of the United States Air Force followed by US Army Reserve Nurse Corps. She was honorably discharged at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (LTC).
Prior to coming to her deanship at UNCW, Dr. Adams served as Department Chair and Interim Dean of the East Tennessee State University College of Nursing in Johnson City TN. During her tenure at UNCW, the SON began its initial graduate program to educate nurse practitioners, the inaugural undergraduate degree in Clinical Research, two new rural nurse practitioner-led clinics and a youth health academy called Camp BONES. With community support and legislative leadership, the UNCW School of Nursing was awarded over $32M to build its first School of Nursing facility. Past community service included the New Hanover Community Endowment Board and simultaneously serving on a hospital board (NHRMC), a public health board (NHCBOH), a mental health board (Coastal Horizons), and an area health education board (SEAHEC), two of which she served as Chair. Current public service includes the NHC Health and Human Services Board and the Wilmington NC Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
As the inaugural chair of the Core Steering Group of the International Council of Nurses Education Network (ICNEN), she convened nurse educators from Australia, Finland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and South Africa to identify common universal standards in nursing education. In her role as the first director of the new National League for Nursing Center for Diversity and Global Initiatives, she advocated for a more diverse nurse educator workforce, through an annual workshop on diversity and inclusion strategies to the 40,000 members of NLN in 1,200 member schools. Outcomes included a vision statement about achieving diversity and meaningful inclusion in nursing education, and a toolkit to assist nursing education programs to achieve diversity in their programs.
Dr. Adams received her BSN Nursing, Winston-Salem State University; MSN Maternal/Child Health Nursing, UNC Chapel Hill and PhD Child Development/Family Relations, UNC Greensboro.