New LHSON Dean Takes Helm
Beginning June 1, 2026, Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) welcomes Tanya M. Sudia, Ph.D., R.N., FNAP, FAAN, Tenured Professor of Nursing and the 10th Dean in the legacy of leadership. She succeeds Linda Plank, Ph.D., R.N., NEA-BC.
“I feel confident that my successor, Dr. Tanya Sudia, will exemplify Baylor University’s commitment to excellence and our school motto, Learn.Lead.Serve,” said Dr. Linda Plank, Dean Emeritus and Clinical Associate Professor of the LHSON. “Faith will continue to be a beacon of light to guide us into the next chapter of the LHSON.”
Dr. Sudia also served at the LHSON in 2014-2019 as the school’s inaugural Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship and a tenured Professor of Nursing. Dr. Sudia brings experience as a nursing school dean from two other institutions and believes in the distinctiveness Baylor provides for nurses. Committed to Baylor's mission as a Christian R1 university, Dr. Sudia is a great partner to campus leaders and to healthcare providers in Dallas and throughout the state and region.
A highly accomplished nursing leader, Dr. Sudia was previously Interim Dean, Chief Nursing Officer and professor at the University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation. Before joining UTA in 2024, she served four years as Dean of Augusta University College of Nursing, the state of Georgia’s largest public university nursing program. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and a Fellow of the National Academies of Practice.
Dr. Sudia earned her B.S.N. from the University of Akron, and her M.N. and Ph.D. from Emory University. She was a practicing neonatal ICU nurse and transport team member, later becoming a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Neonatal Educator at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. She joined the faculty at Emory, serving in various capacities, including Faculty Fellow in the Center for Ethics and senior director of the IRB Office. Following a long trajectory at Emory, she joined Mercer University’s Georgia Baptist College of Nursing to co-develop a Ph.D. in Nursing program.
In 2014, Dr. Sudia began her six-year tenure as Associate Dean at the LHSON where she developed and implemented policies and processes that promoted and enhanced research, including mentoring. She left Baylor to become Dean at Augusta University in 2020, and there she led efforts to increase enrollment across undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, complete two 10-year reaccreditation processes, secure major gifts and establish international partnerships.
As Interim Nursing Dean at UTA, Dr. Sudia spent the academic year of 2025-2026 leading the largest not-for-profit college of nursing in the U.S. with 17,000 students across three academic departments (undergraduate nursing, graduate nursing, and kinesiology) and three research centers (Bone-Muscle Collaborative Research Center, Center for Healthy Living and Longevity, and Center for Rural Health and Nursing). Additionally, UTA CONHI faculty lead two university centers (Clinical Imaging and Center for Innovation in Health Informatics).
Her tenure at UTA included increasing enrollment by nearly 9%, developing two new academic programs, directing a $5.1 million Nursing Shortage Reduction Program funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and incorporating training on the use of Electronic Health Records to facilitate nursing students’ transition to nursing practice. Before becoming Interim Dean at UTA, Dr. Sudia was Senior Associate Dean, providing leadership for Undergraduate Nursing, Graduate Nursing, Office of Enrollment and Student Success, and Smart Hospital.
During her career, Dr. Sudia has received more than $10 million in research grants, including securing the LHSON’s initial affiliation with the U.S. Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing (USAGPAN) and a grant that led to the establishment of the pediatric palliative care collaborative nursing educational initiative in Bengaluru, India. She has advised students on dozens of dissertations, theses, M.S.N. capstone projects and DNP scholarship projects and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, contributed to book chapters and other publications and presented at academic conferences and meetings across the country. She also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing.