[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 49 (Tuesday, April 28, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


FROM DIPLOMA TO DOCTORATE: 100 YEARS IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSITY 
                OF TENNESSEE, MEMPHIS COLLEGE OF NURSING

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                             HON. ED BRYANT

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 28, 1998

  Mr. BRYANT Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the special 
annivesary of the Univ. of Tennessee Memphis School of Nursing.
  Memphis City Hospital and its school of nursing, identified as the 
Memphis City Hospital School of Nursing, opened in 1989. Lena Angevine 
Warner was appointed as Superintendent of Nurses and Director of the 
School. She is identified as the founder of the School of Nursing that 
later became part of the University of Tennessee. She resigned in 1900 
to serve as an Army contract nurse in Cuba and later served with the 
Walter Reed Commission that studied yellow fever.
  The first class of eight graduated in June, 1900 from the Memphis 
City Hospital School of Nursing. A 3-year curriculum was implemented in 
1913.
  By contract with the City of Memphis signed July 22, 1926, ``The 
School of Nursing has been launched on a University basis.'' The 
Memphis General Hospital furnished space and equipment and the 
University of Tennessee provided two nursing faculty members and 
instruction from its medical college faculty. Miss Winifred Atkinson, 
director of nursing for the hospital and the school from 1923-1926 was 
instrumental in bringing about this relationship with the University.
  John Gaston Hospital replaced the old General Hospital in 1936. WWII 
brought practice blackouts and a shortage of nursing faculty and 
students. UT participated in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Program. Two 
graduates of the UT School of Nursing--Lts. Imogene Kennedy and Inez 
McDonald--were captured by the Japanese on with the surrender of U.S. 
Troops on Corregidor, Philippines. They were prisoners of war from 1942 
until early 1945. Miss Ruth Neil Murry became Educational Director of 
the School in 1944 and Director in 1946.
  A 4-year program leading to the BSN began in 1950 and the diploma 
program phased out in 1954. Under the leadership of Ruth Neil Murry, 
the school became autonomous in 1949. Murry, the first Dean, served 
until December 1977.
  The City Hospital contract was amended in 1958 and major curriculum 
change occurred. National accreditation was awarded in 1960. The school 
achieved College status in February 1961.
  The master's program in nursing admitted its first students in 
Summer, 1973. Family nurse practitioner and psychiatric-mental health 
were the initial offerings.
  Dr. Michael Carter became Dean late in 1982 and continues in that 
role. Faculty and Dean Michael Carter placed increasing emphasis on 
research and practice in the mid 1980s. The college moved into a new 
building. In 1988 the Doctor of Philosophy with a major in Nursing 
began. The first PhD in Nursing was awarded in 1992 to June Hansen 
Larabee.
  Over 4,500 nurses have been educated by The University of Tennessee, 
Memphis College of Nursing.




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