Mount Saint Mary College is proud to announce the appointment of professor Christine Berté as the Dean of the School of Nursing.
As the Dean of Nursing, Berté will provide vision and oversight for the School of Nursing, working with faculty to ensure that the curriculum provides students with opportunities to begin or enhance their Nursing career. She aims to expand the Nursing programs available to Mount students. For example, the Mount recently began offering a Master of Science in Nursing and Post-Master's Certificate Nursing track: Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, which focuses on care for clients of all ages and backgrounds.
Berté will continue to maintain the community relationships that were started under the previous Dean of Nursing at the Mount, Susan LaRocco, as well as forging new ones. It's also very important, Berté added, to foster professional development of faculty, including scholarly work and research.
"I have been mentored by very good professionals. And now, at this point in my career, I want to give back," Berté explained. "I want to grow our faculty, I want to see them achieve, and I want them to explore areas of academia that they might not have realized yet."
She is confident in her new role thanks to the Mount's outstanding Nursing professors: "I can succeed because I have tremendous support from my faculty," she said. "Why do I think I can do this job? Because of the faculty I am working with."
Berté, who became a full-time Mount Nursing professor in 2015, previously served as chairperson of the School of Nursing and coordinator of the college's graduate Nursing program. She holds an EdD in Nursing Education from Western Connecticut State University and is a Family Nurse Practitioner with a post master certificate as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner.
Her main focus of practice has been the incarcerated juveniles in Connecticut. She has been part of a dedicated team that achieved accreditation in the juvenile facilities, thus assuring a high level of medical and behavioral care to this special population.
Her teaching specialties include maternal-child and psychiatric nursing in both graduate and undergraduate programs, along with courses designed to develop the role and theoretical framework of Advanced Practice nursing.
Recently Berté was awarded the Daisy Award for Outstanding Faculty, given by the Mount's School of Nursing. She also earned a Certified Nurse Educator credentialing through the National League of Nursing.
Mount Nursing students consistently score higher than the state average on the NCLEX-RN test, and they benefit from state-of-the-art simulation labs and learning resources, clinical relationships with more than 40 area hospitals, and passionate faculty.