Kerry Thompson


  • Ph.D., Nursing, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • M.S., Nursing Education, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
  • B.S., Nursing, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Kerry Thompson is the dean of Health Sciences and a Glenn and Addie Ketner Family Nursing Professor. Her specialty is critical care, and her research involves working with patients experiencing uncertainty with congestive heart failure.

Over the last decade, Thompson helped develop the new Master of Science in Nursing Administration and Education programs and the Regionally Increasing Baccalaureate Nursing programs. She serves as an accreditor for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and travels to accredit other nursing programs across the nation.  

In 2014, she received the Roediger Distinguished Service Professorship, designated annually by the president in recognition of distinguished service to the university, profession and community. Thompson is also a member of the LR Servus Universitas Society. She was inaugurated in 2016 as a notable way of honoring employees who have dedicated the better part of their lives to serve the mission of LR and make it a better place for those who come after them. To be a member of this society, a Lenoir-Rhyne employee must reach at least 25 years of continuous, full-time service. Of literally thousands of individuals who have been employed by the university, fewer than 150 have reached this milestone.