So she hired you then in 1957. And was that a full time child to develop
the program in nursing at issue. So what did that involve? How did you do
that? Not easily. Um
Well there we were placed as you can imagine a very delightful place in
Matthew's basement.
It was it was there were three or 4 pretty good sized rooms there at that
time. And uh so the other person in Loretta and I um we're working as they
had been here six months before I got here. So I got here mid semester or
second semester. And uh we they had been doing other things and setting
the groundwork for the program. And we tried to we did sit down and plan
the curriculum as it should be for nurses who are going to have a
bachelor's degree. And it included uh
general uh work. And as any other student would have coming together a
bachelor's degree in addition to nursing courses.
And and so we we planned it. That's some other other faculty then came in
uh the next year and
for the following years. So the program was accepting students to do their
basic requirements and then would later move into yeah nursing
requirements. So what was your first title within a day? S you what was
the job called? It was called an associate professor. And how it became an
associate professor at that level. I can't really remember because I was
in no way uh at the level to be an associate professor in today's terms
but you got a master's degree. I had a master's degree and you've been
doing a lot of work in there saying yes I had you had some qualifications
? Well I did have some. What was the salary? I don't know. I can't
remember. It was enough to get by but it wasn't in the millions
if any ever is. And
do you remember if it was more or less than you would have made as a nurse
? I think it was about the same
because nurses then we're not as as sparse as they are now, although the
the community didn't need colleagues are nursing very badly. I think. Why
was that? Well, because you're limited when you have only a diploma, you
you don't have the all of the sciences that you might have nor the other
uh courses which provide a well rounded approach to life, I think.
So what did it take to you really got in on the ground floor to start the
College of nursing then? What were some of the things that you've
considered when you thought about what you wanted that college to be? Well
, we wanted them to have a good general
appreciation of the arts and the sciences. In fact it was essential. And
also to bring in the community needs and public health problems which
existed in the community as well as the nursing care per se just a broad
approach to knowledge and
then the emphasis on the nursing, our nursing as it is dealt with in that
community.
So when did you actually start accepting students and having teaching
classes for them?
Actually
I think it was that next fall from the came in january of of that year and
I think it was the next fall we had students.
And were you teaching at that time? We were teaching beginning courses in
nursing along with some of them had been in in the liberal arts college
and transferred over to nursing. But
I think that most of them had some courses before they started and
transferred into nursing. But some did not. So they started at the
beginning and and took some courses introductory courses to nursing. Do
you remember how many students you had the first you know I can't remember
I was trying to remember that the other day and and it was I think they
were run Between 20 to 40 students in rule but not all of them stayed.
Did some of them come from the community colleges to or I think most of
them did not. A lot of them came from other places in Arizona. And they
were enrolled in the general liberal arts degree. Did the University of
Arizona have they started running about the same time? Because that's
where the medical schools.
That's correct. So what you were teaching then when they started when you
started classes, what did you teach? Well there were some nurses with
diplomas who in fact there were a lot of them who were then wanted to get
their bachelor of Science degree and
in the community. And there were some courses that we taught advanced
courses in nursing, which, and particularly again in public health because
that's not one area that's dealt with at all in the, in the deployment
programs.
Usually
did you yourself teach some of those courses?
I don't, I can't remember exactly which ones. I thought right now
we, we taught what we were more competent and, and had more experience.
And the, because by that next trial we had Probably three or 4 more
instructors and each was refining their area for teaching. What area was
your public health and, and maternal child.
You didn't use your site?
I did, yes, but that was a little bit later and I did use my psychic
experience. It was very helpful to, mm hmm. Um, now you say your offices
were in the basement of Matthews Hall. Um, where were your classes held
there? Our officers were like here and the classes were like there. Mhm.
Not much space there. No, there wasn't a lot. But it was enough. Um, when
you started off, did you have goals to have another building or to move
out there? Well, we did get, yes, we had hopes of moving out of there. And
we did finally, I think it was the next year that we were given a building
on Forest Street and it was happens to be worthy. Uh, The TV station is
now Channel eight is located and it was a nice little house. Unfortunately
for me, the director of the school decided to go on a trip with her
husband had been planning it for years to Sweden and so somebody had to
decide stay in and work at the college during the summer and decide how
the building on forests should be redesigned internally too. Hold all of
the new faculty we were getting, I happened to be lucky enough to to stay
into that that year. And you said it was that loved house. It was a house
, an old house remodeling. Yes, we, they took down practically all of the
rooms and and restructured the rooms for offices and so forth. But I guess
that was, that was not our beginning. That was later towards the, the time
when I was getting ready to leave and go to for my doctoral degree in 62.
So we were in Matthews hall for some time. What what was a issue like
those during those years? It was kind of a nice quiet campus and you could
even find space to walk on the sidewalk,
which some days it's hard to find. Uh, the last time I was here trying to
place to park. Yeah. That replaces the park. Even there were still streets
going through campus. There were streets going through campus. Yeah. And
the new building, which is now not the building anymore than nursing
building anymore. I was on the corner of
across the street from where the churches
and
and it still is there of course the building.
Oh, those first few years must have been kind of exciting and challenging
to school from scratch. Yeah, it was very interesting. It was it was good
. I must say we had a lot of help from what was called Witchy then. I
don't know if you're familiar with that organization. It's a regional
organization, the Western. Uh
I can't remember the whole title of it, but it was a Western society for
uh huh higher education in the west and all the colleges and universities
were invited to attend and be a member of that group. So it really made an
impetus for increasing higher education in all the Western states and it's
still going, It was out of Denver. I think the officers are still there
and our dean was very active in that organization. Which was helpful
because she got to know other deans in the western area. And the college
was helped I think by the knowledge from those schools and some of it was
transferred into our curriculum, I'm sure.
Well you mentioned that you started here in 57 that issue. And then you
say you left to go get your doctoral degree. Yes.
In Berlin in 62. Why did you decide to do that? Well, I decided that I
didn't know enough to be teaching at the university without having more
education. And I was very interested in a program called Human development
which was offered through social sciences at the University of Chicago. So
I applied to another scholarship and received it and the way I went. And
how long were you gone? five years. So and I did not initially intend to
return especially here, but Loretta was still dean at the college at that
time and she decided that I should be here. So eventually I agreed to and
it was a very nice experience. What did you think you wanted to do um to
teach uh nursing and to incorporate the information and knowledge that I
had obtained about how human how people develop over the age span. Uh And
I think that it's very helpful if nurses have a good understanding of what
happens in different stages in life. But if you were in a way to Chicago
for five years you must have had a lot of other opportunities during that
time. Yes I did. And did I worked as a research associate part of the time.
Uh That was during my last couple of years and that was helpful for me to
because the program there was highly
emphasized
research
as well as application of that research. Well, what was it that you could
offer you that convinced you to come back here? Well um Loretta was very
interested in the total faculty were interested in uh starting a master's
program. And so I was really hired to plan and get that program on on its
way in nursing, which I did. And I'm glad I did because it was very
interesting time for me. And it was helpful to the community. Why did they
want a Master's program?
Because nurses need to know more
so they need to know more of of some of the stuff which I was just talking
about some of the material in relation to development. And and uh the
various programs are needed because of specialization and medicine. And
nursing uh needs to be able to know how to take care of people who are uh
either needing help for medical surgical problems or childbearing problems
or psychiatric problems and so forth. So we had programs in those areas,
programs for ministers degree
had a issue at the College of Nursing changed a lot over those five years.
Not much the same program. The same. Yeah, curriculum was still in effect
for the most part. And the thing was that more and more people wanted
their master's degree because they needed it in order to care for certain
groups of people in the community. And public health was another one,
which was very important. The school has gotten a lot bigger. Yes, it had
, it had grown and and had a new building in the corner as I said across
the street from the church on and writing on on the edge of the the
property. It's one of the first buildings one comes into, mm hmm. However
, that is not a nursing building anymore. I understand. But it became It
was built as a nursing building.
University and university and whatever street that is. Colleges. Yes,
maybe just college. And that was built to be a college of nursing. And you
know what year that was built? I think 65. It was finished. That was
during the time you were gone. That looks like it would have looked a lot
different than when you came back from the time when you left. Yes, indeed.
It did. Do you remember how many students there were by then? It was a
full house. I don't know exactly. I can'tremember