Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences Dean Paulette Burns was known throughout the health care community for her signature platinum white hair, a cheerful persona, and a legacy of growing programs and changing lives.

In December, Burns died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 65.

Burns started her nursing training at TCU as a student in the 1960s, studying in Fort Worth for two years on a four-year scholarship from the U.S. Army. Under scholarship’s terms, Burns transferred to the University of Maryland/Walter Reed.

After serving three years in the military, Burns earned degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Texas Woman's University before launching a teaching career that took her across the country. In 2001, she returned to TCU to direct the Harris School of Nursing. Five years later in 2006, she was appointed the second dean of the new Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences.

Under Burns’ leadership, the college created new academic programs, including a master's degree in social work and an oncology-emphasis track in baccalaureate nursing. Two centers of excellence also were established: the Center for Oncology Education and Research and the TCU Center for Evidence-Based Practice and Research: A Collaborating Center of the Joanna Briggs Institute.

Burns sharpened the college's reputation as a thriving learning center with cutting-edge curriculum, said Susan Weeks, acting dean. “She really took our college's mission to heart and made a difference in the lives of others,” Weeks said. “I know her legacy will live on with the students, faculty and staff she touched.”

The number of students enrolled in Harris College programs almost doubled during Burns’ eight-year tenure as dean. Burns also advocated for solutions to combat the national nursing shortage, developing an accelerated nursing track, which allows students who have a bachelor's degree in another area to earn their nursing degree in 15 months. The program was one of the first of its kind and doubled in enrollment since launching in 2007.

One of the most memorable changes Burns made to Harris College was a physical one: She spearheaded a new addition the Annie Richardson Bass Building, bringing more than 15,000 square feet of new space and multiple high-tech classrooms and simulation laboratories.

"Paulette saw that more space was needed,” said Provost Nowell Donovan. “Over several years, we talked, argued and debated as the idea of the Annie Richardson Bass annex was developed. And in the end, she won ­— the splendid new building is basically hers and, in my mind, will always be ‘Paulette's Palace.’”

Weeks said it’s an apt nickname. “The building is Paulette's tangible legacy. It is bright, open and forward thinking, the perfect representation of her warmth and pioneering spirit. It's impossible to walk the new halls without thinking of her.”