Published: July 25, 2008 11:15 pm         

Former Mountain State dean of health sciences dies

The Mountain State University family is mourning the loss of one of its own following the sudden death of Dr. Patsy Haslam, the school’s recently retired dean of health sciences.

Haslam, who died Friday morning, joined the school’s team in 1989 when she started its nursing program.

In the years that followed, Haslam, according to MSU President Charles Polk and executive vice president and chief academic officer Jim Silosky, had her hand on the development of every health science program the school offers.

“Patsy really has been the mother of the allied health program,” Polk said. “Without her, we never would have gotten where we are today.”

Silosky agreed.

“She nurtured these programs,” he said. “She provided support and resources to make sure they were the highest quality and the highest caliber they could be.

“She absolutely loved the nursing profession and was passionate about her students.”

That passion, said Roslyn Artis, vice president of university advancement, was most evident with the nursing assistance fund Haslam helped establish.

“She personally went out of her way to help students and to make sure they could get through (financially),” she said. “Patsy went above and beyond.”

Although Haslam, according to Silosky, had planned to enjoy her retirement, spending time with her husband Bill and visiting her children and grandchildren who are spread out across the country, she also had plans of staying involved with the programs she was so instrumental in building.

“She wanted to remain active in terms of knowing what was going on with the university,” Silosky said. “She wanted to make sure she would still have her (school) e-mail address so we could communicate.

“You can’t build and you can’t own as much as Patsy’s built and owned here and pick up and walk away from it — it becomes part of who you are.”

Silosky says faculty members who were part of the programs Haslam built will ensure her legacy lives on.

“The people who worked with her are committed to making sure what she was doing carries on,” he said. “What Patsy has put into place here through all her efforts and hard work will continue to grow.

“We will continue to honor her and her memory with our work here at the university.”

— E-mail:

mjames@register-herald.com