Gloria J. McNeal, PhD, ACNS-BC, FAAN has been named the Founding Dean of the Mervyn M. Dymally School of Nursing at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science. She is a graduate of the Villanova University College of Nursing where she attained a bachelor of science degree; and, earned her MSN and PhD credentials from the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Nursing and Graduate School of Education, respectively. Her dissertation, which investigated the scholarly productivity of African American women nurse faculty in the United States, was awarded with meritorious distinction. Prior to her current position she served as the Associate Dean of Community and Clinical Affairs at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) School of Nursing, and Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School.
An academician for over 30 years, she is the recipient of numerous teaching excellence awards and nearly $7 million in extramural funding to establish critical care curricula of study, mobile healthcare projects, a center for academic support services, and traineeships for advanced practice nursing students. Her most recent grant award was funded at $1.7 million by HRSA to implement a mobile nurse-managed center for faculty practice and student clinical learning experiences. Well published in the field of nursing, she is the author of over 100 published books, book chapters, journal articles and abstracts. Her journal articles have appeared in AJN, Nursing Clinics of North America, Image, Critical Care Nurse, Critical Care Clinics of North America, Computers in Nursing, The Journal of Cultural Diversity, and The ABNF Journal. She currently serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Cultural Diversity and the ABNF Journal.
Her contributions to the discipline of nursing have earned her many nationally recognized prestigious awards among which are: the American Academy of Nursing’s coveted Media Award (1994), the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Outstanding Alumni Award (1995), the Rutgers University Paul Robeson Faculty Excellence Award (2002), the UMDNJ Master Educator Award (2005), and the CARE Award by the New Jersey State Nurses Association (2006). She was named a Fellow of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Academic Leadership Program (2005), inducted as a Fellow of the prestigious American Academy of Nursing (2006), named a recipient of the Governor's Nursing Merit Award by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (2007), and appointed Editor of The ABNF Journal by the Executive Committee of the Association of Black Nursing Faculty (ABNF)(2008). In 2009, she was named a recipient of the ABNF Johnella Banks Member Achievement Award, the New Jersey League for Nursing Nurse Recognition Award, and the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey Lester Z Lieberman Leadership Award for Humanism in Healthcare.