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Dr. LaDonna Northington
Dr. LaDonna Northington, who began her nursing career in the Children's Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in 1979, has been promoted to associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Nursing.
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Northington promoted to associate dean

Dr. LaDonna Northington, professor of nursing, has been promoted to associate dean of academic affairs in the School of Nursing. Prior to serving as interim in the role, she served three years as assistant dean for undergraduate programs and 10 years as program director.

Northington will begin a two-year term as president of the Society of Pediatric Nurses (SPN) in April 2020 at the annual convention. She is an active member of the Eliza Pillars Registered Nurses Association, Mississippi Nurses Association, American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Sigma International Honor Society of Nursing and the Southern Nursing Research Society.

Her long list of awards and honors reflect her history of leadership and success. In both 2008 and 2012, students selected her for the Norman C. Nelson Order, which honors UMMC’s best teachers. The Mississippi Nurses Association awarded her the Nightingale Award for Nursing Faculty of the Year in 2010.

In 2012 she received the Higher Education Appreciation – Working for Academic Excellence Outstanding Faculty Honoree. In 2017, the School of Nursing Alumni Association named her Nursing Alumnus of the Year.

After receiving her BSN from the University of Mississippi School of Nursing in 1979, she started her career as a staff nurse in the PICU at UMMC. In 1987, Northington received a Master’s Degree as a Clinical Nurse Specialist at UMMC. She returned to the School of Nursing in 1995 as faculty and has held multiple leadership roles during her service for the school. Northington earned a DNS in 1998 from Louisiana State University New Orleans, with an emphasis in Child Health Nursing and Consultation.