Sharon Catledge, family nurse practitioner in Student Health Services, has been named president of the Mississippi Board of Nursing.

The Hattiesburg native has spent two years serving and assisting the needs of students in the Bedie Smith Clinic. Before working as a nurse practitioner at the university, she taught nursing at Itawamba Community College in Fulton, Miss.

“I absolutely love my profession,” Catledge said. “I have been in nursing for greater than 24 years with a wide range of experience.”

Catledge will serve a one-year term as board president. Her duties will include chairing all meetings, overseeing decisions that require immediate action, working on the executive committee, selecting ad hoc committees and managing the presentation of the executive director’s annual evaluation.

“I am honored to serve as the board’s president,” Catledge said. “Community service is a part of who I am and serving on the Board of Nursing affords me another venue to give back.”

Catledge received her bachelor of science in nursing from the Mississippi University for Women in 1996. She went on to obtain a master’s degree in nursing from the University of North Alabama in 2008 and her nurse practitioner certification in 2010.

She is a member of the Nu Sigma Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.