The dean of nursing as arbiter, antagonist, and advocate

Any professional and especially an administrative role is framed in two ways: (1) by a context--the set of ideas, institutional structures, and politics in place at a particular time, and (2) by the set of competencies that senior managers must develop. The context is a set of social expectations within which the role operates and, in the case of the role of dean, reflects the current development of nursing as an academic discipline and of the universities of which it is a part. Since nursing became a university-based discipline, deans of major schools of nursing have had to do path-breaking work in integrating the discipline/profession into universities. This work is not yet complete, and these roles will continue to require high levels of the managerial competencies.