Mary S. Collins, dean of the Decker School of Nursing, has been named as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Collins was one of 68 fellows inducted into the academy at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. in October. Fellows are selected for their “extraordinary commitment and contributions to nursing that far exceed the responsibilities of their employment and the potential for sustained contributions to the profession in the future.”

Collins has been dean of the Decker School since 1988, having served as interim dean for two years prior to that. Collins earned her BS in nursing from Keuka College in 1973, her MS in nursing from Syracuse in 1975 and her PhD in higher education from Syracuse in 1981.

Prior to joining the University in 1973, Collins was a public health nurse in both Broome County and in Colorado and was a clinical nursing instructor at Broome Community College.

Most recently Collins has been involved in research on improving rural health care in Korea and China as part of a collaborative research project with the nursing school at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea. She has also been serving as a visiting professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery of DeMontford University in Leicester, England.

Collins has been a member of the State Board for Nursing since 1994 and has served as its vice chair since 2000. She is also a member of the New York State Regents Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future of Nursing.

The academy, founded in 1973, aims to provide visionary leadership in nursing and in health care policy and practice by integrating scientific and philosophical knowledge. There are more than 1,300 fellows of the academy.