Lin Murphy, Ph.D., R.N.

I earned my BSN and MSN degrees from Saint Louis University. My graduate studies prepared me as a Cardiovascular Clinical Nurse Specialist. Shortly after coming to Spokane, I accepted a position as the Nurse Manager of a 10-bed Acute Cardiac Care Unit and a 20-bed Intermediate Cardiac Care Unit, which several years later evolved to a 22-bed Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. We cared for the most acutely ill cardiac patients, including patients recovering from open-heart surgery and cardiac transplantation as well as patients on mechanical heart devices. After 14 years, I became the Director of Clinical Services for an outpatient Heart Institute that provided an array of services for cardiac patients, from cardiac catheterizations to nuclear scans of the heart. Having spent most of my career in management/leadership positions in cardiac care, I decided to return to academic teaching, which I had done for a few years after obtaining my master’s degree, and completed a PhD degree in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University.

Since coming to Gonzaga in 2004, I have taught in all of our nursing programs and have held positions as Assistant Department Chair, Department Chair, Acting Dean, and lead faculty for the Health Systems Leadership track in the MSN program. One of my greatest joys was working with a very talented group of nursing faculty to develop the BSN program in 2005 and teaching in this program for several semesters. I had the privilege of working with another faculty member and one of our local hospitals to start the first Dedicated Education Units in the state for Gonzaga nursing students. Most recently, I have been teaching in the Health Systems Leadership track in the MSN program and in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. I served as the Interim Dean of the School of Nursing and Human Physiology from 2016 - 2019.  This role allowed me to work closely with Deans of the other schools and faculty in the Departments of Human Physiology and Nurse Anesthesia as well as the Department of Nursing. My research interests are in the area of authentic leadership and other positive, strength-based approaches to leadership.