Charlene S. Aaron begins June 1 as the new chancellor of St. John’s College of Nursing in Springfield. She succeeds Brenda Jeffers who is retiring.

“Dr. Aaron will be an asset because of her distinguished experience with nursing education,” said E.J. Kuiper, president and CEO of HSHS Central Illinois Division. “She is passionate about educating students to be great nurses and increasing diversity of nursing students and faculty members.”

Aaron most recently served as an assistant professor at Illinois State University’s Mennonite College of Nursing where she worked since 2005. Prior to that, Aaron served as the director of nursing for various nursing homes and retirement communities in Livingston County. She began her career in nursing as a post-surgical nurse in in the late 1970s at a hospital in Pontiac.

Aaron received her doctorate from the University of Iowa. Her research focused on the self-management of diabetes in African American female caregivers of persons with dementia. She has been honored for her distinguished career at ISU’s nursing college. In 2015 she received the Illinois Nurse Leader Fellowship from the Illinois Organization of Nurse Leaders and the Kathleen A. Hogan Endowed Faculty Development Award.

St. John’s College of Nursing has provided nursing education for 125 years in Springfield and each year graduates approximately 55 nursing students