CON Dean Dr. Wilkerson named professor emeritus at Purdue

(COLLEGE STATION) – Sharon Wilkerson, Ph.D., R.N., acting dean of the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Nursing, recently was named professor emeritus at Purdue University.

Dr. Wilkerson previously was an associate professor at the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi College of Nursing and Health Sciences and before that was director of doctoral program development and an associate professor at the Purdue University School of Nursing. She also has been with Indiana University and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac, Mich.

A staff nurse for a variety of patients, Dr. Wilkerson’s specialty is pediatrics. She was a clinical nurse specialist for children with respiratory problems and nurse researcher for several years, conducting evidence-based research on nursing care. She has worked in undergraduate and graduate nursing education for more than 15 years.

Dr. Wilkerson became involved in nursing as a three-year diploma graduate from Hermann Hospital School of Nursing in Houston before obtaining a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Houston and a B.S.N. from the University of Hawaii. She has an M.S. in nursing specializing in pediatrics and nursing education from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in nursing of families from Wayne State University in Detroit. She completed a post-doctoral clinical nurse scholar fellowship with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at the University of Rochester.