As the president of a university focused on the health sciences, Dr. Sharon Diaz of Samuel Merritt University (SMU) is cognizant of disparities in healthcare and endeavors to develop professionals that embrace diversity and positive change.
“You have the opportunity to learn so many things,” says Diaz of being a university president. “Everything from how to read a financial statement to how to work with a governing board and learning from the people you work with.”
Originally founded in 1909 by physician Dr. Samuel Merritt, who had migrated west to be part of the development of California, when Diaz joined the school in 1973 the Samuel Merritt Hospital School of Nursing offered only a diploma program in nursing. There was a desire to change to a degree program.
Fascinated by the prospect of developing this new educational opportunity that would sustain the school’s reputation for clinical excellence while also advancing the nursing profession, Diaz took on the challenge. In 1976, she became director of the School of Nursing. Over the next eight years, she worked to transition the school to a degree-granting institution. In 1984, the first baccalaureate degrees were conferred, the institution became accredited and she became president.
“I was working with a higher education consultant and he convinced the board of both the hospital and the new college that they should name me president,” says Diaz. “I didn’t have any aspirations to become a college president. It has been a lifetime of learning, which is why I stuck around so long. I keep learning new things.”
Under Diaz’s leadership, SMU has grown into a dynamic university offering degrees in nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant and podiatric medicine. There are also online programs in advanced practice nursing. Each step of institutional expansion was carefully thought out, and Diaz says she reviewed a lot of detailed business plans.
“I have had the fortune to work with incredibly capable people,” says Diaz. “You make sure there’s a market for the people you’re going to graduate. You make sure there’s a market for the program you’re going to admit them to. You make sure they’re going to make enough money when they graduate to pay off their loans.”
