NWHSU names Bushway President and CEO

Rob Karwath for NWHSU | November 16, 2018

Board cites leadership during interim period in making appointment permanent.

The Board of Trustees of Northwestern Health Sciences University today announced that Deborah J. Bushway has been appointed the university’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

Bushway has served in both roles on an interim basis since June, working with the Board to ensure alignment of vision, strategy and key initiatives for the university, one of the nation’s leading higher education institutions training the next generation of health-care leaders.

“We value the exceptional leadership that Dr. Bushway has brought,” said Dr. Christopher Jo, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “We feel confident in her vision and strategic direction for our university, our academic programs and our clinics.”

He added: “NWHSU is well-positioned to be central to the transformation of health care, as consumers continue using conventional medicine alongside evidence-based complementary treatments. Dr. Bushway has led the way in expanding and enhancing integrative care for our students and at our clinics, helping us build stronger person-centered care.”

Bushway said: “I am honored and humbled to step into this role, continuing the work with our Board, our faculty, our staff and our students. The leaders we are training here are exactly the leaders health care needs. The care we are providing is exactly what our health-care system needs to put people at the center.”

Bushway came to NWHSU as provost, the chief academic officer, in 2016 after a 30-year career that included work as a psychologist, a professor and administrator at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, and as a dean, provost, interim president and vice president of Capella University in Minneapolis. She also has worked with the University of Wisconsin Extension and the U.S. Department of Education. She earned her Master of Science and Doctorate degrees in psychology from Iowa State University.

She is an expert in competency-based education, an approach growing in popularity that allows students to make progress toward degrees based on demonstrated competencies rather a courses-and-credit-hours approach. Earlier this year, Bushway testified before Congress on the subject. She and two co-authors also recently published “A Leader’s Guide to Competency-Based Education,” a book designed to help academic leaders start such programs.

For more than 75 years, Northwestern Health Sciences University, based in Bloomington, Minn., has provided world-class professional education and research as well as comprehensive health and wellness services. Its more than 130 faculty members annually teach about 6,500 students pursuing degrees and continuing education in accredited programs in chiropractic, acupuncture, therapeutic massage, Chinese medicine, nutrition and other health treatments. Northwestern has more than 7,500 graduates throughout the U.S. and in 21 countries. For more information, please visit nwhealth.edu.

Download the press release here: 2018 Deb Bushway President CEO PR