
At Marquette, Acord implemented the Ph.D. program, started the clinical nurse leader master’s program, created the position of director of research and secured a grant to recruit minority students. Acord also established the Marquette Neighborhood Health Center — a nurse-managed clinic that offers evidence-based primary care to more than 2,000 adults and children annually. Establishing the MNHC was administratively complex and required months of detailed planning and negotiation with internal and external entities.
Acord participated in the Milwaukee mayor’s trade mission to China and was later invited to address a national conference there. After her deanship, Acord returned to teaching and was executive director of the Wisconsin Center for Nursing from 2007 to 2009.