Linda Flynn, PhD, RN, FAAN

Retired -- Professor and Dean

Division of Nursing Science

Newark

Specialty: Health care systems research

Widely recognized for her extensive program of funded research on the effects of healthcare systems’ organizational culture and staffing levels on nurse and patient outcomes, Linda Flynn, PhD, RN, FAAN retired on August 19, 2024, from her role as dean and tenured professor at Rutgers University School of Nursing; one of the largest, most comprehensive, and most highly ranked schools of nursing in the nation. She was appointed dean in June 2020 after serving nine months as interim dean. Before that, she was the inaugural senior associate dean for nursing science.

Under her leadership, the school continued its upward trajectory in national rankings. Most recently, the school achieved a No. 5 ranking for its doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program and was ranked No. 14 for its master of science in nursing (MSN) program in U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools 2024.

She has also spearheaded the school’s intensified efforts to advance equity and belonging; Rutgers School of Nursing has received the prestigious Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from Insight Into Diversity for the past two years (2022 and 2023).

Completing her postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, her program of research has quantified those factors contributing to RN burnout and intentions to leave their jobs and profession – issues of relevance to today’s nursing shortage. She was one of the first researchers to extend this line of inquiry into post-acute settings such as nursing homes, home health, and dialysis centers. She was recently included on Stanford University’s list of the top 2 percent of nurse scientists in the world. She is co-editor of the textbook, “Nursing Policy Research: Turning Evidence-Based Research into Health Policy,” a seminal work on this topic.

As the dean of Rutgers School of Nursing, Dr. Flynn recently established the new Center for Health Equity and Systems Research, serves as chair of the Big Ten Academic Alliance Coalition of Nursing Deans, and chairs the Organization of Colleges of Nursing, New Jersey.

Recognizing the severity of the nursing shortage, she launched a well-received webinar series featuring distinguished nurse leaders from across the U.S. addressing critical issues affecting the nation’s nursing workforce. Understanding the need to enhance the workforce pipeline by increasing schools’ educational capacity, Dean Flynn spearheaded efforts that led to the expansion of nursing student admissions to Rutgers School of Nursing. She likewise led initiatives that facilitated a 50 percent increase in students admitted to the Rutgers School of Nursing’s Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program.

Dean Flynn is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the New York Academy of Medicine and an honorary senior fellow at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Her numerous awards include being one of only five recipients nationwide to receive the prestigious Nurse Educator of the Year Award from the National League for Nursing. She also received the 2023 Nurse Recognition Award from the New Jersey League for Nursing, the 2024 Diva and Don Award from the New Jersey State Nurses Association Institute for Nursing, and the 2024 Heath Care Heroes Award from NJBIZ. She received the Rutgers School of Nursing Outstanding Alumni Award in 2015.

Dr. Flynn earned her PhD in Nursing from Rutgers—as part of the program’s first graduating class—as well as a master’s degree in community health nursing from Rutgers. She is an undergraduate alumna of the University of Maryland.

Her current position marks the third time Flynn has been part of the Rutgers School of Nursing team. She served as associate dean for graduate education and as a professor from 2010-2012, and from 2003-2008 as an assistant professor and director of research for the New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing.

Immediately before this engagement at Rutgers, Flynn served from 2012-2017 as a tenured professor at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus. She was associate dean of academic programs from 2013-2016 and interim associate dean of research there from 2016-2017.

From 2008-2010, Flynn was associate professor and director of the graduate program in community health at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore.

Before first arriving at Rutgers in 2003, Flynn completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, under the direction of Dr. Linda Aiken. Before beginning her academic career, she was the senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Essex Valley Visiting Nurse Association in East Orange, NJ, and director of clinical services for the Visiting Nurse Association of the Delaware Valley in Trenton, NJ.