Patricia L. Smith

Dr. Patricia L. Smith has served as Dean of the College of Nursing at East Tennessee State University since July 2004. She joined the ETSU faculty in 1990, holds the rank of professor, and served as a department chair, associate dean for academic programs, and interim dean in the college prior to being appointed as dean.

At ETSU, Dr. Smith has led the development of several academic programs including the Master of Science in Nursing degree program, Doctor of Science in Nursing degree program, a more streamlined 120-credit hour B.S.N. degree curriculum revision, and an Accelerated Second-Degree B.S.N. track. In addition to curriculum development, she also authored or co-authored grants and contracts resulting in over $4 million in funding for the College of Nursing at ETSU. In 1996, Dr. Smith, along with former ETSU colleague Dr. Nancy Moody, received a $200,000 grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to form the Tennessee HealthCare Consortium for Nursing which has now become the Tennessee Center for Nursing, Inc. (TCN).

Dr. Smith earned her B.S.N. degree from Northwestern State University and her M.S.N. degree from the Medical College of Georgia. In 1989, she was awarded an Ed.D. in Educational Administration and Supervision from the University of Tennessee. Prior to joining the ETSU faculty, she taught many years at undergraduate and graduate levels in the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and also taught in an associate degree nursing program at Macon (GA) Junior College, and a diploma program at Fort Sanders Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in Knoxville. Dr. Smith has practiced in both hospital and public health settings.