Reeder named nursing’s associate dean for research

Nancy Fahrenwald, dean of South Dakota State University’s College of Nursing, announced K Reeder has been hired as the associate dean for research.

Reeder has been working as a research associate professor at Barnes-Jewish College in St. Louis and is adjunct research faculty member at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City, Iowa, UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, Iowa, and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

“K brings a wealth of experience to our college in an area that is and always will be a focus for us—research that improves health and quality of life for rural and underserved populations,” Fahrenwald said. “She has a strong background in the science of heart failure and symptom management for patients living with chronic conditions. She has published in a number of peer-reviewed journals and is active in nursing research organizations.”

Reeder has degrees from Drake University and the University of Iowa and participated in a heart failure postdoctoral fellowship at the Kansas University Medical Center.

“What attracted me to South Dakota State is the fact the College of Nursing has a great dean, faculty and students, and SDSU nursing graduates are highly sought throughout the Midwest and beyond. Nancy Fahrenwald is known nationally and internationally,” Reeder said. “She shared with me the vision for research in the college. It was very exciting to hear about its strategic plan, and I felt it was well aligned with my research interest and career goals.

“I’m at a point in my career where I wanted to be able to share my experiences and support others in developing and sustaining their programs of research,” she continued. “My vision for the Office of Nursing Research in the college is to support faculty in fulfilling their research goals using scalable strategies to achieve widespread adoption and reach of our research that will benefit people locally, as well as globally and inform practice and policy decision-making.”

Reeder, who started at State in July, plans to meet with the college faculty to learn about their current projects, as well as research interests to determine how to best support faculty in achieving their long-term goals for research.

“I will be meeting with each of our doctorate-prepared faculty to learn about their current projects and areas of interest,” she said. Practice informs research about the problems that come up in daily practice, and the science informs practice; they’re intertwined, and we really need both to address health concerns that are meaningful to patients and that improve care.”