Butch de Castro appointed next dean of Seattle University’s College of Nursing
This story appears in the Spring-Summer 2023 print issue of The Washington Nurse.
Butch de Castro, PhD, MSN/MPH, RN, FAAN, was appointed the next dean of Seattle University’s College of Nursing. His term will start July 1. The current dean Kristen Swanson, RN, PhD, FAAN, is retiring at the end of the academic year.
Dr. de Castro is currently the inaugural associate dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and professor in the Department of Child, Family and Population Health Nursing at the University of Washington’s School of Nursing. He was also director of the Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing graduate training program.
His research focused on occupational health disparities, examining how employment opportunities, job conditions, and work organization contribute to chronic stress and work-related injury and illness — particularly for immigrants and workers of color. Many of the workers in his studies were construction day laborers.
Dr. de Castro was honored at WSNA in 2021 for the Marguerite Cobb Public Health/Community Health Nurse Award, named after an exemplary public health nurse and 1998 Hall of Fame inductee. The award honors outstanding professional contributions to public health or community health, as well as calling these achievements to the attention of members of the profession and/or general public.