Dr. Cathleen Shultz
Founding dean, Carr College of Nursing
Dr. Cathleen Shultz served as founding dean of the Carr College of Nursing from 1980 until her retirement in 2014. She was the first Arkansan elected to the national board of governors of the National League for Nursing and the only Arkansan to serve as president of the organization. She also was appointed by Governors Bill Clinton and Mike Beebe to serve on the Arkansas State Board of Nursing.
Under Shultz’s leadership, Carr College of Nursing was the first nursing program in Arkansas to use computers as a part of learning, introduce primary care in the curriculum, provide health services for Head Start and HIPPY programs, initiate health screening clinics in public schools, provide health information and services for the elderly, and incorporate health missions into the curriculum.
Her many honors include: Distinguished Teacher at Harding (twice named); Outstanding Alumna from the University of South Carolina College of Nursing; 2010 Distinguished Service Award from the Arkansas Nurses’ Association; 1992 induction as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing; 2009 Fellow of the Arkansas Gerontological Society; 2012 Fellow of the Academy of Nurse Educators.
Shultz holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of South Carolina, a master’s degree in nursing from Emory University, and a doctorate from Vanderbilt University. Her husband, Dr. Sam Shultz, is a pediatrician at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.