Dr. Martina Suttle Harris has been named Dean of Nursing and Allied Health at Chattanooga State Community College

Chattanooga State Community College has recently announced that it has appointed Dr. Martina Suttle Harris to the Dean of Nursing and Allied Health position. Dr. Harris was appointed to the ChattState Nursing and Allied Health Division of the school at the beginning of March. She has spent more than two decades serving in higher education, both in the clinical setting and in the classroom. 

Dr. Harris was previously the Assistant Dean of Nursing and Allied Health and Nursing Program Director at Chattanooga State Community College. She worked in that position since coming to the school back in 2013. While working as the Nursing Program Director, she grew the Registered Nursing Program to encompass the Kimball site, and led the registered nursing program as it went through its successful six-year Accreditation Commission of Education in Nursing re-accreditation. Her most recent achievement in her previous role was that she worked to include the Surgical Tech Program as a study path in the Nursing and Applied Health Division.

Prior to coming to Chattanooga State, Dr. Harris was a teacher at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. There she was a tenured UC Foundation Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and was the level facilitator for first-year students. She also has been an instructor at Middle Tennessee State University in the School of Nursing.

Dr. Harris has also worked as Project Director for several Health Resources and Services Administrations grants. Those grants were focused on recruiting and retaining under-represented minorities in the healthcare industry. She has also served on the Board of Directors for the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning where she was part of the development of the Standards of Best Practice: Simulation. In 2020, Dr. Harris was appointed to serve as a member of the Tennessee Board of Nursing by Governor Bill Lee.

In an article posted on Chattanooga State Community College’s website, the Vice President of Academic Affairs at the school, Dr. Elizabeth Norton, was quoted on Dr. Harris’ new appointment, saying, “Dr. Harris brings a wealth of experience and education to her role as Dean of Nursing and Allied Health. Chattanooga State is fortunate to have her on our leadership team on a permanent basis.”

Dr. Harris was also quoted about her new position, saying, “It is my honor to serve as dean of the Nursing & Allied Health Division, and it is a privilege to work alongside such great faculty and students.”

In her position as dean, Dr. Harris will oversee and lead the registered nursing program and 13 allied health programs at Chattanooga State Community College. 

She has listed three main goals for her time as dean:

The first goal is for community involvement. Dr. Harris wants the school to be a driving force in the local community. She explained, “I am thrilled to lead this division at a time when the college is focused on preparing graduates to meet workforce needs of the region.”

The second goal is accreditation. Currently, Chattanooga State’s Nursing and Allied Health programs are currently fully accredited, have high pass rates, and robust job placement for graduates. Dr. Harris wants to keep this trend going while strengthening the school’s achievements.

The third goal is to close equity gaps. Dr. Harris intends to build on her previous work with underrepresented minorities to close the equity gap in the healthcare field and among students at Chattanooga State.  

Dr. Harris is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, a TBR: The College System of Tennessee Maxine Smith Fellow, and a member of the Chattanooga Downtown Rotary Club. She is active in a variety of professional organizations and also serves on the Board of Directors for the organization Volunteers in Medicine, Erlanger Health Systems Foundation, Hamilton County Department of Education, and Journey Health Foundation. 

More information about Chattanooga State Community College can be found on the school’s website.