Although Dean Kavita Radhakrishnan has held several leadership positions in the School of Nursing, serving as dean has been a different experience altogether.
Radhakrishnan, PhD, MSEE, RN, FAAN, FAHA, took the reins as interim dean in March 2026, leading the School until her permanent appointment in September.
“I’m excited and thankful for being given this opportunity to lead in a place I genuinely care for,” she said. “I hope we can work together to achieve meaningful and lasting impact for the School of Nursing and the communities we serve. The interim period truly prepared me for this role – it gave me the confidence that I could function as a dean because of all the support I received. “A recurring sentiment I heard was, ‘You should do this!’ and I think that really helped.”
The news of Radhakrishnan’s appointment drew an enthusiastic reaction from the faculty, students and staff.
“The School of Nursing community – faculty, staff and students – are thrilled that the Provost has named Kavita Radhakrishnan as our Dean,” said former Dean Alexa Stuifbergen, PhD, RN, FAAN. “We know her and trust her from our experience working alongside her as a faculty member and as an administrative leader of the School. She has strong passion and enthusiasm for the nursing profession and we know her to be a genuine and thoughtful leader who will lead our School with integrity.”
“The School of Nursing is indispensable to UT’s growing academic health enterprise, and Dr. Radhakrishnan is the right leader for this important moment of growth,” said William Inboden, Executive Vice President and Provost at UT Austin. “Her leadership and vision will build on the School’s strengths in education, research and patient care as we expand UT’s impact across Texas and beyond.”
Radhakrishnan’s interest in nursing was sparked while she was growing up in India, when her father experienced a cardiac crisis and she found herself wishing she could do more to help. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from the University of Mumbai before coming to the United States to continue her education.
After earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington, Radhakrishnan felt increasingly drawn to health care and the opportunity to make a direct difference in people’s lives. While in Massachusetts, she began volunteering as a nurse.
“I liked how nursing involved problem-solving and analytical work,” she said. “But I could clearly see there were gaps in technology that frustrated nurses’ efforts to provide the optimal level of care. I realized that was a good space for me, that I could bring my engineering background into nursing to improve processes, develop better technology, and make nurses’ lives easier.”
She subsequently earned both a BSN and a PhD in nursing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Radhakrishnan might have stayed on the electronics side of medicine, but she felt that to truly make an impact, she would need to understand nursing firsthand.
“I had to be in the trenches and learn what it is to be a nurse and see through the lens of being a nurse,” she said. “I’m so grateful I made that move because it definitely helped. It informed the way I design technology interventions in my research because I have that insight into the lived experiences of patients.”
Radhakrishnan could have chosen to remain in a clinical setting, but while working on her doctorate, she became interested in the academics of nursing.
Now that she’s no longer interim dean, Radhakrishnan – who came to UT Austin in 2012 – is ready to begin pursuing her own initiatives for the School.
“The biggest difference is that I can start initiating some long-term plans,” she said. During her interim appointment, she explained, the primary focus was maintaining stability and improving morale. “Now that things have settled, I’m going to look for opportunities to grow and find exciting ways in which the school can contribute to Texas and beyond.”
Given how impressed she has been with the faculty, staff and students at the School, Radhakrishnan is optimistic about the future.
“What I learned in the interim period was that we have a good School,” she said. “Staff and faculty are really committed to their mission. I realize that we are all united by a shared purpose. I found some gaps and challenges that could help make our mission better, and those are some of the initiatives I’ll be tackling as the dean.”
Kavita Radhakrishnan Notables
- Fifth dean of the School of Nursing
- Holder of the Laura Lee Blanton Chair
- Former assistant and associate dean for research
- Former director of the Luci Baines Johnson and Ian J. Turpin Center for Gerontological Nursing
- Received more than $10 million in funding from agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services and Sigma Theta Tau International
- Authored more than 65 articles, which have been cited in publications from more than 30 countries
- Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Heart Association
- Inducted in 2025 into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame