Professor Emerita, Indiana University School of Nursing
August 4, 1942- February 24, 2013
Passed by the IUPUI Faculty Council at their meeting on May 7, 2013.
The Indiana University School of Nursing (IUSON) is profoundly saddened and mourns the passing of one of its most respected and beloved faculty members on February 24, 2013 at the age of 70 at Montgomery Alabama Baptist hospital after a nine month battle with complications following surgery. Dr. Sharon Farley was an accomplished nurse educator, administrator, leader, patient advocate and wonderful colleague. Her unparalleled commitment to the teaching of nursing, and making life better for her fellow human beings, are the hallmarks of her career. She has worked to improve living conditions for people of every gender, race, income, and educational level.
Dr. Farley served as the Interim University Dean for the Indiana University System School of Nursing, from 2003-04. Prior to this appointment, Sharon served as the Executive Associate Dean for Academic Programs at the School of Nursing (1997-2003). A diploma graduate from St. Luke Hospital in Cleveland, she went on to obtain a BSN from Ohio State University, an MSN from the University of Colorado-Denver, and a doctorate from the University of Texas-Austin, after which she came to Indianapolis for the first time as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs. That first stay was brief, as she was soon recruited to be Associate Dean then Interim Dean at Auburn University in Montgomery.
She provided excellent leadership and service to IUSON. Sharon guided the school through a number of significant challenges. It is noteworthy that under her leadership the School of Nursing successfully accomplished an institutional self-study and received full ( 8 year) accreditation for all of its programs from the National League for Nursing (NLN) and a full (10 year) accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education CCNE. Her visionary leadership regarding distance accessible graduate nursing degree programs is one of many positive forces that contributed to U.S. News and World Report consistent top ten graduate program rankings of several IUSON masters’ degree majors. At IUSON, Dr. Farley used her community-development sensibilities to develop the IUPUI/C-Bloomington Corridor. She oversaw the doctoral program moving from a DNS degree to a PhD, and played a key role in the development of IUSON’s World Health Organization Center for Collaborating Cities and Institute for Action Research. There was no aspect of faculty and curriculum development that she didn’t touch, skillfully getting faculty and staff to work together for common cause.
She was a true champion of nursing education and community health initiatives and internationally known as an expert in the area of community health, specifically in the design and evaluation of projects that support partnerships between education and practice. She was a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a Distinguished Practitioner in the National Academies of Practice. Her funded grants supported three nurse-managed, community-based projects funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation that linked health to community development. Her community development model has been emulated and distributed widely through print and video media to a variety of health and human service providers and educators.
Her extraordinary sphere of influence, significant impact on others and her contributions to the nursing discipline and profession have been validated through her many awards and honors over the years. These include but are not limited to:
- The Outstanding Community Project Award given by the Alabama County Department of Human Resources for her superior community initiatives;
- The Outstanding Service Award from the Alabama Gerontological Society;
- In 1999, she received the National League for Nursing’s Linda Richards Award for outstanding leadership in nursing and education;
- A decade later she was inducted into the Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame.
Angela Barron McBride, Distinguished Professor–University Dean Emerita put everything into perfect context when she noted that “Sharon cared deeply about growing our school of nursing, and doing it in such a way that everyone—students, staff, faculty, alumni, advisors, university officers—felt heard. Sharon’s legacy lives on at IUPUI where Sharon’s Garden is located. Concerned about quality-of-life issues, Dr. Farley paid for the landscaping in the back of the school of nursing, so everyone entering from that side would feel the lift of a graceful bush or flowering plant. She planted so many “good things” in each one of us, and now it is up to us to continue to bloom in appreciation of her cultivating efforts.”
Dr. Sharon Farley was a pioneer in nursing and she did it all with her own “down home” sense of humor. She will be deeply missed by all of us at the Indiana University School of Nursing.
THUS, BE IT RESOLVED, that this memorial resolution be placed in the minutes of Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis Faculty Council with a moment of silence observed in her honor. A copy of this memorial resolution will be delivered to her family.
This resolution is written on behalf of Dr. Sharon Farley’s former students, staff, and faculty of the Indiana University School of Nursing, and was prepared by Dean Marion E. Broome of IUSON.