Texas Woman’s University is a public institution primarily for women that prepares women and men for leadership and service through high-quality undergraduate, graduate and professional programs on campus and at a distance.
When Ann Stuart became chancellor and president of Texas Woman’s University in 1999, she was charged with heightening the reputation and visibility of the university. As part of this goal, she envisioned moving TWU’s Dallas health care programs, then housed at two locations, into one state-of-the-art building that would enhance the university’s reputation as a leader in graduating health care professionals. With a $5 million gift from Boone Pickens in 2006 — then the largest gift to TWU in its more than 100-year history — this vision became a reality.
“I bought into Anne Stuart’s vision for improving nursing care in Texas — and nationally,” Pickens says. “A nursing community that is skilled in advanced health care procedures and medical research is integral to meeting our population’s growing demand for quality health care.”
The TWU T. Boone Pickens Institute of Health Sciences-Dallas Center opened in 2011 on the site of TWU’s former campus near Parkland Hospital. A 190,000-square-foot facility, it houses the Houston J. and Florence A. Doswell College of Nursing, the TWU Stroke Center-Dallas, the School of Occupational Therapy, the School of Physical Therapy and the university’s health systems management program.
Since it opened, the facility has helped TWU become a leader in using technology that mirrors the workplace, including the use of state-of- the-art teaching tools in the classroom, live streaming of lectures, and high-fidelity patient mannequins in nursing labs.
In 2012, the institute was one of only two universities in the nation to receive a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Biomedical/ Biobehavioral Research Administration Development (BRAD) grant. The $452,532 grant is being used to establish an Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at the institute. The goal is to increase the amount of interdisciplinary research at the institute and encourage collaborative efforts with other researchers at institutions in the surrounding medical community.
Having well positioned TWU for the future, Dr. Stuart retired from the university in June 2014 (after her May induction into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in Austin). Carine M. Feyten became the eleventh president and second chancellor of TWU in July.
Under Stuart’s leadership, total enrollment grew by more than 85 percent; the university received national recognition for its quality, value, and diversity; and fund-raising topped $220 million for facilities, scholarships and faculty development.
She also made significant financial contributions to the university to establish the annual Ann Stuart and Ray R. Poliakoff Celebration of Science, the Chancellor’s Alumni Excellence Award and the Ann Stuart and Ray R. Poliakoff Endowed Scholarships for TWU undergraduate students.
“Leading TWU has been a wonderful experience,” Dr. Stuart says. “I particularly am proud of what our students have accomplished and what they have become — high achievers in their academic careers and successful graduates in critical professions who return value to Texas and its citizens.”
For more information on TWU’s T. Boone Pickens Institute of Health Sciences – Dallas Center, visit www.twu.edu/dallascampus.
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