Deborah A. Zbegner PhD, CRNP

Deborah Zbegner was appointed dean of the first independent Passan School of Nursing at Wilkes University in January 2015. As the Passan School of Nursing’s first dean, Dr. Zbegner’s academic, clinical, and leadership experience provides a solid foundation for strategically positioning the Passan School of Nursing as an academic leader. Dr. Zbegner’s strategic plan fosters growth through innovative distance education programs, undergraduate and graduate curriculum development, and faculty/student scholarship. Dr. Zbegner has 21 years of teaching experience on the undergraduate and graduate level acting in various leadership positions. Experience includes didactic and clinical teaching, development of the DNP program, online course development, grant writing and numerous presentations at the international and national level.

Dr. Zbegner served as Director of Graduate Programs and has been responsible for strategic planning, overseeing operations and supervising curriculum, faculty loading, and student enrollment and retention for the nurse practitioner concentrations and the Doctor of Nursing Practice program. Deborah Zbegner also has 30+ years of professional experience in nursing which includes obstetrical, gynecological, and infertility nursing, ultrasound, university teaching, and governance. She has 28 years of clinical practice as a nationally board certified women’s health nurse practitioner. Dr. Zbegner works in a collaborative physician practice caring for women across the life span and also serves as a clinical preceptor for nurse practitioner students within her practice site. She provides a dynamic learning environment that promotes high quality patient care from a holistic perspective. Dr. Zbegner’s academic knowledge, clinical expertise and national board certifications validates her commitment for promoting clinical excellence in all programs of the Passan School of Nursing. She is a member of the PA Coalition of Nurse Practitioners of Northeastern Pa., National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH), the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics, and Neonatal Nursing (AWHONN), and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. She earned her Doctorate at Widener University, Master's in Nursing at University of Pennsylvania, and her undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Nursing from DeSales University.