Jessica Clark, DNP, RN has served as Dean of Creighton University’s College of Nursing since January 2024. Prior to Creighton, Dean Clark served as the Dean of the College of Education and Health Sciences at Bradley University where she provided academic, administrative, and financial leadership for six academic interdisciplinary departments such as nursing, OT, PT and K-12 education. Having held multiple leadership roles within higher education from department chair to professor, Dean Clark was instrumental in relaunching a second-degree accelerated nursing program and developing and implementing new programming in areas such as psychiatric mental health, adult-gerontology nurse practitioner programming and innovate undergraduate online nursing programs that have helped close the gap in workforce needs across the country. She also has extensive teaching experience, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and a proven track record for developing and promoting local and extended partnerships that support quality programs and co-curricular activities for students.

Dean Clark’s passion for fundraising has cultivated numerous philanthropic partnerships that have generated over $10 million to support capital projects, new programs and student scholarships. Her teaching experience encompasses both undergraduate and graduate studies via traditional campus and distance learning with several large universities and small private colleges (Indiana State University, Norwich University, Ball State University, Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, Bradley University). Dean Clark values scholarly dissemination and her evidence-based practice and research interests include telehealth technologies, distance education development in both undergraduate and graduate studies, as well as academic leadership emersion and the faculty development.

Prior to higher education, Dean Clark held highly regarded nursing administration appointments and leadership roles within professional clinical settings. She was the regional program director for Telehealth programming with the Department of Veteran Affairs where she oversaw daily Telehealth modalities of care for over thousands of veterans in 8 medical centers and 65 outpatient clinics in three states. She has also worked in several practice areas such as emergency, critical care and medical-surgical nursing.

As a proud first-generation college student, Dean Clark received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing Administration from Indiana State University and Doctor of Nursing Practice from Chatham University.