Dean and Professor
Charleston Southern University
Mount Pleasant, SC
Dr. Tara Hulsey is Dean and Professor in the Derry Patterson Wingo School of Nursing at Charleston Southern University and Adjunct Faculty in the Colleges of Nursing and Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. She received her bachelor of science in nursing from Clemson University, her master of science in maternal/child nursing from the Medical University of South Carolina, and her Doctor of Science in Nursing from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Hulsey is also a Certified Nurse Educator.
She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau and is the past-president of the Gamma Omicron at-Large Chapter. She is currently serving a second term as the Region 7 Coordinator for Sigma Theta Tau International. Dr. Hulsey has held numerous leadership positions in the area of perinatal nursing, serving on the Board of Directors for the South Carolina Perinatal Association, the Regional Perinatal Association, and the National Perinatal Association. Currently, she serves as Chair of the research committee of the National Perinatal Association and is past chair of the National Perinatal State Forum.
Dr. Hulsey has been at the Medical University since 1990 and has held numerous positions during her tenure there including Associate Dean for Academics and Associate Dean for Faculty in the College of Nursing. Her specialty area is high-risk obstetrics, and she previously held the position of the Perinatal Outreach Educator and the Regional Systems Developer for the Medical University's eight county perinatal region. She has served two terms on the executive committee for the University Faculty Senate, the University Research Advisory Committee, and chaired the University Gender Equity Committee. She has extensive clinical experience in high-risk antepartum and intrapartum nursing and in level I and II newborn nursing. She has taught and advised in the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs and was involved in the development of and served as the program director for a Nurse Educator master's program. She assumed the role of Dean at Charleston Southern University in 2007. She is project director of the RWJ funded Quality and Safety Education in Nursing initiative, where her school is one of 15 schools chosen as a pilot site.
IIn addition to teaching, Dr. Hulsey conducts research and has published in the areas of unwanted pregnancy, infant mortality and low birth weight, and maternal pregnancy behaviors. Dr. Hulsey has presented her research at local, regional, and national levels.