Professor Julia Seng, Ph.D., named associate dean of strategic affairs

Effective January 1, 2018, Seng will help lead UMSN's most critical strategic projects. 

"She is an extremely clear thinker with an incisive view of strategies and their implementation," said Dean Hurn. "In her new role, she will be perfectly positioned to move forward important strategic projects necessary for UMSN to be all that it can, and should, be."

Professor Seng's research focuses on the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on women's health and childbearing. Her projects approach this topic from a variety of perspectives. She used qualitative, participatory action research to understand women's experiences and to inform intervention development. Epidemiological analyses have established that PTSD is associated with pregnancy complications and worse physical health across the lifespan for women. Clinical studies currently are examining neuroendocrine and genetic pathways that link PTSD to preterm birth, lower birth weight, and pregnancy complications. Clinical trial testing of a psycho-education program for women with abuse related PTSD, known as the "Survivor Moms' Companion" are underway in the U.S. and Australia. In addition to studying PTSD, Professor Seng is working with collaborators in a new trajectory focusing on studies of oxytocin in relation to health outcomes in women.

Seng is an experienced teacher and teaches in both the School of Nursing and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts' department of women's studies. Courses in the women's health doctoral track which she teaches often include students from outside the school, including graduate students in public health, psychology, social work, women's studies, and sociology, living out the university's commitment to interdisciplinary training for students. Students Professor Seng has mentored have been successful at publishing papers on their own or as a member of the research team. 

She has received several notable awards/recognitions, including the Book of the Year from the American College of Nurse Midwives in 2009, and she became a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2009.