Gloria Ferraro Donnelly serves as the Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions. A native of Philadelphia, she is a graduate of Villanova University, the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing and Bryn Mawr College, Department of Human Development where she completed the PhD in 1985 as a National Service Research Pre-doctoral Fellow.
Her interest in psychiatric-mental health nursing led her to hold clinical and educational positions at Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Hospital and the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital. She has held faculty appointments at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing, Trenton State College in New Jersey, and Villanova University. She was the founding Dean of Nursing at La Salle University and is currently the Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University.
The author of four textbooks, winner of two AJN Book of the Year awards, and currently editor of Holistic Nursing Practice, a refereed journal, Dr. Donnelly speaks at the national level on holistic care, nursing education, and a variety of mental health topics including assertiveness, stress, and change. In 1982 she was elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing. In 2003 she was named by the March of Dimes as "Women of Achievement." Dr. Donnelly serves on the Board of Directors of Hahnemann University Hospital and on the Advisory Board to the Nurses Services Organization, a professional liability company. She is also a stand-up comedian and has performed for fund-raising purposes.