Dean Arrington Biography
Barbara Arrington is the dean of the College of Health and Human Services. She brings extensive experience in academic leadership and program development. Her scholarship is in the fields of health policy, strategic management, and health care quality. Her term at the University of New Hampshire commenced in September 2007, and like other UNH deans, she will serve a five-year, renewable appointment.
Prior to UNH, Arrington was senior associate dean and professor of health management and policy in the School of Public Health at Saint Louis University. As a faculty member there since 1979, Arrington held a joint appointment to the departments of health management and policy and community health with a secondary appointment in public policy. Her recent projects and publications relate to research translation and dissemination and to the development of professional competencies for graduate education. Her earlier research considered mechanisms for continuously improving governance of health care organizations as well as the economic and community benefit performance of not-for-profit and for-profit hospitals and health systems. Arrington teaches or has taught in the areas of strategic management, leadership development, continuous improvement, and health policy.
Arrington is actively involved in community service and consultation. She is a frequent site visitor for the Council on Education for Public Health, the accrediting body for schools of public health. Included in her community service activities are more than 15 years of governance experience in health care organizations, 11 of those in hospital and health system governance. She also consults in the areas of organizational strategy and leadership development. Her clients have included the public health institutes of Florida and Missouri, the Missouri Foundation for Health, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the National Association of Community Health Centers, consulting firms, Catholic heal care systems, state and local health departments, academic medical centers, health maintenance organizations, professional associations, religious congregations, and nurse executives.
Arrington’s undergraduate degree in nursing is from Columbia University, her master’s degree in public health (health administration) is from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and her doctorate in health services research is from Saint Louis University (1985). She is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.