Dr. Tish Smyer is an associate professor and the associate dean for academic affairs. She teaches the online Nurs 713 Health and Public Policy and works closely with high schools to offer Medical Terminology in preparation for entry into UNLV. As associate dean, Dr. Smyer oversees current academic programs, leads the school in the preparation of federal training grants, and serves as a resource to faculty in the teaching mission of the university.

Dr. Smyer’s area of expertise is the aging prison inmate and American Indian elderly. Dr. Smyer has been active in the institutional grant arena to support American Indian Nurse education (Indian Health Service Wokunze Project).  Her current grant work focuses on the RN to BSN/MSN collaboration with Nevada State College to increase the number of Bachelors prepared nurses in Nevada.

Dr. Smyer was recently appointed by the Governor of Nevada to serve on the Nevada State Board of Nursing.  She has served as a reviewer for the Health Resources and Services Administration in the Advanced Education Nurse Practice Grant, the Nurse Education, Practice and Retention Grant, and Division of Independent Review (DIR) MCHB/Continuing Education Distance Learning Grants. She also reviewed for the Irish Health Board related to elderly prisoner projects. Dr. Smyer was a Fuld Fellow (Helene Fuld Health Trust) of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Leadership for Academic Nursing Program. She has been a Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) reviewer since 1999.

Biographical Sketch