After nine years at the Woodruff School of Nursing, Dean Marla Salmon plans to leave Emory in the summer for the deanship of the University of Washington’s nursing school. Salmon will step down on June 30 and join the University of Washington on Oct. 1.

Salmon’s decision to leave was not anticipated. After taking a look at opportunities available to her and her family in Seattle, she was faced with a difficult choice, she said.

“I am both very sad to leave and also very excited to return to the West Coast — which is home in so many ways for my family and me — and to be a part of another great university and school of nursing that is offering different types of
opportunities for me to contribute and grow,” Salmon wrote in an e-mail to the Wheel.

She is ready to return to her birthplace and be with her family, who are already there, Salmon said.

Marsha Lewis, associate dean for education at the nursing school, said Salmon “is leaving a very strong school. We want to continue what we have.”

While at Emory, Salmon created the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing; developed the research arena at the nursing school; kept the school afloat under tough financial circumstances; and was the secretariat for the Global Government Health Forum, where chief nursing officers and chief medical officers are invited to address national and international nursing workforce issues.

“[Salmon] champions the core values of the school: leadership, scholarship and social responsibility,” Lewis said. “She wants to make a difference in the world and advocates this to her students as well.”

Edith F. Honeycutt Professor Kathy Parker said changes will occur under new leadership, but Parker has high hopes that it will reflect on what Salmon has done to move the school forward.

“She has done a great job and made a profound impact on my career development and taught me to better serve the school,” Parker said.

Salmon has also enhanced the research program at the nursing school, said Kenneth Hepburn, associate dean for research. The program was nonexistent before her deanship, he said, but has flourished under Salmon’s guidance.

A search committee is currently being selected to recruit a new dean. Fred Sanfilippo, executive vice president for health affairs, CEO of Woodruff Health Sciences Center and chairman of Emory Healthcare, will lead the committee.

— Contact Esther Yang.