Alescia L. D. Bethea, PhD, MS, CRNA, APRN
Executive Vice President
Alescia Bethea, PhD, CRNA, APRN began her nurse anesthesia career in 1995 working with a small anesthesia group and precepting nurse anesthesia students on a daily basis. She started working at the Nashville VA Medical Center in 1996, which included precepting nurse anesthesia students for a few years. She was a part-time adjunct faculty member at Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia (MTSA) in 1996 through 2005, where she taught Fundamentals of Nurse Anesthesia and was the first faculty member to integrate high-fidelity simulation into the curriculum starting in 2001. In 2003, she returned to school to earn a PhD in Higher Education, and in late 2005 she transitioned to full-time employment at MTSA as the Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Program Development. In that role, she worked with the Program Administration to achieve 10-year reaccreditation from COA in 2008 and COA’s approval for the DNAP degree in a CRNA completion format in 2011. In 2009, she led MTSA’s 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation with SACSCOC, and in 2012 she led MTSA’s successful application to SACSCOC for Level Change to the doctoral level. Later in 2012, Dr. Bethea became the Nurse Anesthesia Department Chair and Program Administrator at AdventHealth University (AHU) in Orlando, FL. While at AHU, in addition to teaching and mentoring roles, she led the program’s reaccreditations with COA in 2012 and 2020 (maximal 10-year span in 2020), and she led the transition to the DNAP degree, including obtaining COA and SACSCOC approvals for the new degree program. In 2022, Dr. Bethea returned to MTSA as Executive Vice President, and in late 2023 she also began serving as Interim Program Administrator for MTSA’s entry-level DNAP program.
Alescia Bethea, PhD, CRNA, APRN began her nurse anesthesia career in 1995 working with a small anesthesia group and precepting nurse anesthesia students on a daily basis. She started working at the Nashville VA Medical Center in 1996, which included precepting nurse anesthesia students for a few years. She was a part-time adjunct faculty member at Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia (MTSA) in 1996 through 2005, where she taught Fundamentals of Nurse Anesthesia and was the first faculty member to integrate high-fidelity simulation into the curriculum starting in 2001. In 2003, she returned to school to earn a PhD in Higher Education, and in late 2005 she transitioned to full-time employment at MTSA as the Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Program Development. In that role, she worked with the Program Administration to achieve 10-year reaccreditation from COA in 2008 and COA’s approval for the DNAP degree in a CRNA completion format in 2011. In 2009, she led MTSA’s 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation with SACSCOC, and in 2012 she led MTSA’s successful application to SACSCOC for Level Change to the doctoral level. Later in 2012, Dr. Bethea became the Nurse Anesthesia Department Chair and Program Administrator at AdventHealth University (AHU) in Orlando, FL. While at AHU, in addition to teaching and mentoring roles, she led the program’s reaccreditations with COA in 2012 and 2020 (maximal 10-year span in 2020), and she led the transition to the DNAP degree, including obtaining COA and SACSCOC approvals for the new degree program. In 2022, Dr. Bethea returned to MTSA as Executive Vice President, and in late 2023 she also began serving as Interim Program Administrator for MTSA’s entry-level DNAP program.
