Pat Tooker
Wagner College is proud to announce the election of Dr. Patricia Tooker as the new dean of its Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing.
Patricia Tooker earned her bachelor and master of science degrees in nursing, post-master’s nurse practitioner’s certificate, and doctor of nursing practice degree from Wagner College. She conducted her doctoral research on “The Heroin Epidemic Among Teens and Young Adults on Staten Island” in December 2016. She holds RN licensure in both New York and New Jersey and has current BCLS and ACLS certification. Tooker’s 20-plus years of practice prior to entering higher education consisted of many staff and leadership/management positions within acute care and ambulatory settings. She is an associate professor in the Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing and has previously served as the school’s undergraduate program director.
Her teaching responsibilities in the Spiro School of Nursing have included undergraduate and graduate courses, with expertise in critical care, leadership and management, community health and health care administration. Tooker has also taught for many years in Wagner’s undergraduate general education learning communities curriculum. She is the recipient of the Excellence in Service award 2005-06, the Civic Engagement Faculty Recognition award 2008-09, and the Excellence in Teaching award 2009-10. She earned tenure in 2005.
In 2010, she was appointed to the position of dean for integrated learning. She was responsible for overseeing the college’s undergraduate curriculum, better known as the Wagner Plan, and represented Wagner as an active member and spokesperson on the national level of higher education.
Tooker recently published articles in Peer Review (2015), the NYU Faculty Resource Network Journal (2015) and Learning Communities Research and Practice (2014).
She is a board member at Eger Health and Rehab Center on Staten Island and was appointed to the Staten Island Health and Wellness Advisory Council, which is overseen by the Staten Island Borough President’s Office.
Tooker’s specialties include surgical/trauma intensive care, ambulatory surgery, emergency department, community-based nursing curricula, learning communities in higher education and the health-care delivery system.
She holds membership in: Sigma Theta Tau, Epsilon Mu Chapter; American Cancer Society Nurse Advisory Council, Staten Island Chapter; New American Colleges and Universities; Association of American Colleges and Universities; Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Learning; Omicron Delta Kappa; Community Campus Partnerships for Health; Association of Schools of Public Health; Global Society for Nursing and Health; Soroptimist International; and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
We wish to thank the founding dean of the Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing, Dr. Paula Tropello, for her years of service. Tropello, who is currently on sabbatical, was instrumental in leading the Spiro School of Nursing as it won National League for Nursing designation as a 2012-16 Center of Excellence in Nursing Education in the category of Creating Environments that Enhance Student Learning and Professional Development. Under Tropello’s leadership, the school launched Wagner College’s first doctoral program, the Doctor of Nursing Practice, which graduated its first cohort in December. Tropello also guided the school’s efforts to enhance the undergraduate as well as graduate curricula with increased emphases on global health and disaster preparedness. We thank Dr. Paula Tropello for her leadership and service to the school, its students and its faculty.