The University of Utah College of Nursing community mourns the loss of Paula M. Meek, PhD, RN, ATSF, FAAN, Assistant Dean for the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Program, whose decades of leadership, research, and mentorship will leave a lasting impact on our College and members of the nursing profession.
"Paula was an extraordinary leader, a gifted mentor, and a cherished friend whose wisdom, generosity, and unwavering commitment touched countless lives," said Marla De Jong, PhD, RN, CCNS, FAAN, Dean of the College of Nursing. "Her impact on our College, the nursing profession, the advancement of science, professional organizations, and the countless individuals she mentored and inspired will endure for years to come."
A Career Devoted to Nursing
Paula's educational preparation reflects a deep commitment to advancing nursing science and clinical research. She began her nursing education at Brigham Young University, earning an Associate degree in 1978 and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 1982. She continued her studies at the University of Washington, where she completed a Master of Science degree in Physiologic Nursing with a pulmonary specialization in 1985. Paula then pursued doctoral studies at the University of Arizona, earning a PhD degree in Clinical Nursing Research in 1993 with a minor in Cognitive Psychology. She further refined her expertise through a prestigious NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship in Instrumentation at the University of Arizona in 1994. This strong interdisciplinary educational foundation positioned her to make significant contributions to nursing science, symptom monitoring, appraisal, treatment, and management for more than 30 years.
Paula's clinical career reflected the same rigor and depth of purpose that would come to define her scholarship. She began as a staff nurse and went on to serve as a pulmonary clinical nurse specialist and research specialist at institutions including Cottonwood Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah; Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington; and University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wisconsin. These formative clinical experiences cultivated a lifelong devotion to respiratory and chronic illness care that would guide the remainder of her career.
Building on this clinical foundation, Paula went on to a distinguished career in nursing education, spanning more than three decades and several institutions across the country. She held roles ranging from clinical instructor and program director to assistant, associate, and full professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin; the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona; the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico; the University of Colorado Denver in Aurora, Colorado; and, ultimately, the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she would spend the remainder of her career educating the next generation of nurse scientists.
A Legacy of Research
Paula dedicated her career to the study of symptom monitoring, appraisal, treatment, and management. She specialized in longitudinal measurement and the psychometric properties of instruments used to evaluate symptoms across both chronic and acute phases of illness. Her work focused on respiratory symptoms in chronic conditions, helping to guide self-management decisions related to fatigue, shortness of breath, anxiety, and depression in pulmonary, cardiac, and oncology patients.
Her research was supported by more than $1.6 million in extramural funding as principal investigator, including R15, R01, and R29 grants from the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Nursing Research. She also contributed as co-investigator and consultant on grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Oncology Nursing Foundation and received numerous intramural grants throughout her prolific career as well.
Transforming the PhD Program
As Assistant Dean for the College’s Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Program, Paula led one of the achievements she was most proud of – reshaping the curriculum around problem-based learning, making the program one of the first in the nation to adopt this model. Rather than following a traditional lecture format, students now work together in small groups to investigate open, real-world problems, much as researchers form hypotheses and gather evidence, while faculty step into the role of facilitator, guiding discussion and helping students reflect on the knowledge they uncover along the way. Paula was instrumental in securing approval of the new curriculum from the Utah System of Higher Education and the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, collaborating with Dr. Caroline Stephens, Dr. Alycia Bristol, Dr. Julie Valentine, and Dr. Julie Gee.
She also served for years as Program Director of the College's Health Resources & Services Administration-funded Nurse Faculty Loan Program, successfully securing renewed funding that expanded loan repayment support for graduate students preparing for careers as nurse faculty. Through her leadership, more graduate students were able to pursue careers in nursing education and research, helping address a critical national shortage of faculty. Several became College of Nursing faculty members, further amplifying her lasting influence.
A Mentor to Generations
Beyond her own scholarship, Paula chaired and served on dissertation, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) scholarly project, and thesis committees, and advised more than 50 PhD, DNP, Master of Science, and Bachelor of Science students. Yet, her impact as a mentor extended well beyond those formal roles. She was equally generous in supporting faculty and staff colleagues and took particular care to help international students navigate both their studies and life far from home. She was known for staying in touch with former colleagues and students long after they left her guidance, celebrating their achievements and discoveries as if they were her own.
Leadership and Recognition
Paula was an active leader across numerous professional organizations, among them the American Thoracic Society, the European Respiratory Society, the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science, the American Academy of Nursing, the Western Institute of Nursing, the American Nurses Association, and the Colorado and Arizona state nursing associations. She most recently served as Governor of Nursing Research for the Western Institute of Nursing and member of the Fellow Selection Committee for the American Academy of Nursing. She sat on editorial boards and review panels for journals, including Nursing Research, the Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, and the European Respiratory Journal.
Paula was instrumental in advancing nursing professional governance, a framework that empowers frontline nurses through ownership, shared decision-making, and accountability for practice standards, clinical care, and operational processes. Through a longstanding collaboration with leading experts in the field, she helped influence the evolution from shared governance to professional governance, an approach now widely embraced by healthcare and professional nursing organizations nationwide. Paula also led the psychometric development of the Professional Governance Scale and its companion self-assessment survey, providing the scientific foundation that enabled organizations to assess and strengthen professional governance practices.
Over the course of her career, Paula received numerous honors and awards, among them the Distinguished Researcher Award from the Western Institute of Nursing, the Boeker Research Award from the University of Colorado College of Nursing, and a National Institute of Nursing Research Postdoctoral Fellowship / National Research Service Award. She was inducted into the Western Academy of Nurses, and at the 2025 Western Institute of Nursing Conference, received the Anna M. Shannon Mentorship Award, a fitting tribute to her decades of guiding others. She was a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and American Thoracic Society.
Honoring Her Legacy
The College of Nursing invites you to honor Paula's extraordinary life and enduring legacy by making a gift to help establish an endowed fund supporting PhD students. Your generosity will celebrate Paula's lifelong commitment to nursing science, research, and mentorship while creating lasting opportunities for future nurse scholars for generations to come.
