Dean Jenny Lucy’s Nursing Journey of Service and Compassion
Jenny Lucy, DNP, MSN-Ed, PMHNP-BC, APRN, CNE, Dean of Nursing at Arizona College of Nursing’s Fort Lauderdale campus, has dedicated her life to nursing, education, and service. Originally from London, she was inspired to become a nurse in the 1990s through a government program designed to address a shortage of healthcare professionals.
This program, which paid for her education, allowed her to attend King’s College London, where she received fantastic training.
“I’ve always loved being with people, and I love helping people, so it was a natural thing for me to become a nurse,” she says.
After getting married, she left England and moved to the US, where she followed her husband’s work, moving every 4 years. This constantly changing lifestyle led her to gain a wide range of experience. “Then I found my passion, which was mental health nursing,” she explains.
Her dedication to mental health is so well known on campus that she even received an award from a Semester 9 cohort: “Most likely to use breathing techniques to save the world.”
A Natural Transition to Education
For Dean Lucy, moving from the nursing world to one of education was natural. She believes that nurses have a built-in ability to teach, and because of that, her transition was smooth.
She began her teaching career 15 years ago at a community college in Virginia, where she took students to clinicals. This passion for teaching led her to other roles, including developing and teaching a CNA program at a high school in inner-city Chicago and a medical assistant program in Atlanta.
She now serves as the Dean of the Fort Lauderdale campus, where she is a beloved mentor and supportive leader. Even with her administrative duties, she still finds time to teach, covering faculty when needed and always being available to provide students with new perspectives on course concepts.
“I think that my personal culture matches very well with the, with the culture of the college,” she says. “I’m very student-centered, so everything is about the students and making sure they get what they need.”
Enhancing the AZCN Student Journey
At our Fort Lauderdale campus, Dean Lucy is known for her hands-on approach and her commitment to making the student experience as seamless as possible.
“This campus is so awesome. Everybody wants to help everybody else and do better for the students,” she shares. “That’s my big focus: What can I do to make the journey better for the students?”
She provides a great example of this dedication. Recognizing that many students were travelling long ways from their homes to get to their clinical placements, she helped initiate a new system to assign placements based on students’ zip codes. “Now we can do this,” she says. “We can at least get students [at a clinical site] an hour from where they live.”
In addition, she has also started several clubs at the College for students, including the Student Nurses’ Association (SNA). Some of her clubs organize volunteer activities at events like the Type 1 diabetes and Alzheimer’s walk, as well as drives for a local homeless shelter. For Dean Lucy, community service is not just an extracurricular activity, but a core component of being a nurse.
“Nursing school has to have a big community component,” she explains. “You need to give your time…you instill it in the students when they come to nursing school and then they’ll do it for the rest of their careers.”
Dean Lucy’s Commitment to Nursing Students
Dean Lucy’s commitment to her students is perhaps best illustrated by a story she shares about a group of students who were seriously struggling in a particular semester. She took it among herself to take action, initiating extra help sessions and bringing in professors with diverse teaching styles.
“Something stuck,” she recalls. “And by the end of the semester, there was nobody failing… everybody caught the ball. They have graduated.”
This experience reinforced her belief that every student deserves a chance to succeed.
Dean Lucy’s journey from a student in London to a leader in Fort Lauderdale is a powerful testament to the impact one compassionate person can have on the lives of others. Her passion for nursing and her constant support for her students is at the heart of everything she does at Arizona College of Nursing.
Start Your Future in Nursing Today
If you’re considering a career as a registered nurse (RN), Arizona College of Nursing is here to help you pursue your dream. Our BSN program enables you to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in just 3 years or less with qualifying transfer credits. We’ve helped hundreds of students to earn a BSN degree and enter the nursing profession – and we’re ready to support you on your path to becoming an RN.
Why Choose Arizona College of Nursing?
- Earn a BSN degree in 3 years or less with eligible transfer credits
- Campus locations throughout the US
- Night classes for general education courses
- Hybrid Online/In-Person format for general education classes
- Nursing education is all we do
- CCNE-Accredited Program*
- NCLEX-RN success coaches and exam preparation class
- Financial aid available to those who qualify
Discover Your Path to a Career in Nursing
Information in this post is accurate as of December 18, 2025.
*The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program at Arizona College of Nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (https://www.aacnnursing.org/). All Arizona College of Nursing and Arizona College campuses are institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (https://www.abhes.org/), a U.S. Department of Education-recognized accrediting agency.