Hawkins and Britt appointed
School of Behavioral Sciences and Nursing Program each receive a new dean
Two faculty members were recently named as dean of the School of Behavioral Sciences and the School of Nursing.
Ronald Hawkins
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Interim Provost Dr. Ronald Hawkins has acquired another position to add to his long list of leadership roles, as he was recently appointed the dean for the new School of Behavioral Sciences.
RESPONSIBILITY — Interim provost named dean. Photo credit: Joel Coleman
The School of Behavioral Sciences is a new department that will cover all of the psychology, sociology, human services and clinical and pastoral counseling programs. It currently has 30,000 students both online and residentially, according to Hawkins.
Hawkins has been with Liberty since 1978, when he taught preaching, homiletics and Bible for the School of Religion. After briefly departing the school in 1995 to become president of Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon, Hawkins returned to Liberty in 2000 as the dean of Arts and Sciences. He left the position in 2008.
During his time as a pastor, before he came to Liberty, Hawkins came to realize that certain people needed more than spiritual counseling. They also need mental and psychological treatment as well. Hawkins believes that providing people with psychological counseling helps assist them in their spiritual growth as well.
“People from the field of psychology and counseling are very people-oriented,” Hawkins said. “What they are interested in is helping people to experience a higher level of health physically, mentally and spiritually. So as we think about this new school, the opportunity is there to prepare Christians to enter the workplace and to be working from a biblical theological framework.”
Hawkins said that in the future, the program would expand some of its undergraduate programs. There is talk of creating a master’s of psychology program, which will be available both online and residentially, according to Hawkins.
“I think that we who are deans have both an amazing opportunity and an amazing obligation,” Hawkins said. “The opportunity with the behavioral sciences is to create a division that continues to focus on preparing people to minister as professionals within a community of care-giving. What we have here is an opportunity to train a wonderful group of people who go out and speak to the whole person.”
Hawkins said there is also a spiritual responsibility to train future Christian leaders in addition to the academic responsibility that deans possess.
“The obligation is to train these people effectively and to help them understand the authority and the power of the word of God and the spirit of God to bring health and healing to people,” Hawkins said. “And (we) also (hope) to (help them) understand how the science of undergirding psychology and counseling can help people. And what I’ve seen is that as we meet that obligation we enhance our ability to help people achieve higher levels of emotional, psychological and spiritual help.”
Dea Britt
Former Provost Ron Godwin announced in October that Dr. Dea Britt would be promoted from department chair to dean of the School of Nursing.
PLANS — Dea Britt has years of experience at Liberty. Photo credit: Courtney Russo
Britt has been a part of Liberty’s nursing department since 1986. She is the only current faculty member who has been at the university since the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program was instituted.
Britt earned her BSN at Liberty University, her Master of Science in Nursing at the University of Virginia and her doctorate at Virginia Tech. Before coming to Liberty as a faculty member, Britt was a nurse for Centra specializing in pediatrics.
“I really enjoy taking care of sick children and helping their parents cope with their fears and frustrations related to having a sick child,” Britt said.
Some of Britt’s responsibilities as dean include overseeing the quality of all the programs, motivating and inspiring the faculty and staff, supervising policy development, determining a budget and representing the school to university administration.
According to Britt the School of Nursing has grown significantly over the years. It recently introduced a new Doctor of Nursing Practice program. The degree is for students who are already finished with a master’s degree and want to earn a doctoral degree or students who want to pursue a Family Nurse Practitioner certification along with a doctoral degree.
“I have seen many, many changes (since the school began),” Britt said. “When our first department chair, Dr. Linda Miller, left in 1995, I assumed the chair position. At that time, we had six faculty members and were graduating about 36 students a year. Currently, we have 28 faculty members, 12 staff members and four distinct nursing programs graduating several hundred students each year.”
Britt said a nurse midwifery program and PhD program are being considered in future plans for the nursing school.
Janney is the asst. news editor.