Table of Contents
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Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids
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| Collection |
| Title: |
College of Nursing Records |
| Dates: | 1962-1994 |
| Call Number: | A18 |
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Historical Note
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What began in 1962 as a cooperative program with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) developed into Northeastern University's College of Nursing two years later. The MGH-NU program allowed nursing students to earn academic credit at NU towards an associate degree while acquiring nursing proficiency at MGH's nursing school. Also in 1962, NU was accepted by the Nursing Group of the directors of nursing of Boston's six major hospital nursing schools as the institution at which to establish a college of nursing.
The College of Nursing opened in 1964 with two programs: a three-year cooperative associate degree program, and a five year cooperative bachelor degree program. The college worked in cooperation with MGH and Beth Israel Hospital, which were later joined by Children's Hospital, and each of these hospitals donated $10,000 to the new program. Ground breaking for a building to house the new college occurred in March 1965, and with federal funding it was completed by the spring of the following year. Mary Gass Robinson Hall was dedicated on 7 April 1966.
The first dean, Dr. Charlotte Voss faced her first challenge in securing accreditation for the college from the National League for Nursing (NLN). The College applied for accreditation of its bachelor's program in 1964, but the College was not approved. The associate's degree program was also denied accreditation in March 1965 by the NLN, citing the college's small number of faculty (six) and claiming that the college allowed too much credit for its courses. The NLN also express reservations about the cooperative aspect of the college. Subsequently, the College of Nursing's associate degree program was accredited in 1968, and the bachelor's program received accreditation in 1972.
In June 1967, the College graduated its first associate degree class of 62 students. Within this program, the College's attention was drawn to the demand for continuing education opportunities. In particular, licensed practical nurses were looking for a program that would recognize their previous work experience. To answer this need, the College of Nursing established a Licensed Practical Nurse-Associate Degree Program in 1969 with federal funding from a three-year training grant entitled, "Credit Allotment for Licensed Practical Nurses Who Transfer into an Associate Degree Program." While the program was the brainchild of Prof. Goldie Crocker, Prof. Mary Kane became the project director after Crocker left NU.
Dr. Voss resigned as dean of the college in the spring of1968, and Juanita Long served as acting dean until she was appointed dean in 1969. Under her leadership several new programs were implemented. In 1972, in collaboration with University College, the College of Nursing brought under its aegis the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Program of the Bunker Hill Health Center of MGH, which was directed by Prof. Priscilla Andrews. This program was largely self-supporting with the assistance of three federal grants. The first was awarded for the period 1972-1975; the second, "A Four Track Educational System for Nurse Associates" granted from 1975-1979; and the third, "An Expanded Three-Track Nurse Practitioner Program" funded the program 1979-1982.
Continuing education and career mobility persisted as needs that the College addressed in the 1970s. In 1974, answering the calls of associate degree graduates, faculty, and the community, the College established a program for registered nurses to earn a bachelor's degree. This program was headed by Prof. Nancy Walden. In the same year, the College began exploring the possibility of modifying its plan of study, so it was chosen by the NLN as a project site for experimenting with an open curriculum.
Within the field of nursing, professionals were emphasizing training at the baccalaureate level over the associate degree option. So, the College phased out its associate degree program in 1979, with the last associate's class graduating in 1981. The nurse practitioner program was also terminated in 1982 because federal funding ran out and because the College was beginning to consider offering graduate level training. At around the same time that a Graduate Curriculum Advisory Committee was established in 1986, the Boston University College of Nursing decided to discontinue its graduate nursing program and proposed that Northeastern transfer the program to its College of Nursing. This proposal was approved in the fall of 1988, and the new NU College of Nursing Graduate Program became effective January 1989.
Also in 1989, Dean Long retired after twenty years leading the College. In September of that year, the College of Nursing celebrated its 25th anniversary, and Dr. Eileen Zungolo assumed her role as the College's third dean. |
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| Chronology of Deans |
| 1964-1968 | Dr. Charlotte Voss |
| 1969-1989 | Juanita O. Long |
| 1989-2003 | Dr. Eileen Zungolo |
| 2003- | Nancy Hoffart |
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| Bibliography |
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Long, Juanita O. "Yesterday and Today." Speech given on the occasion of the College of Nursing's Tenth Anniversary, 1974. (A18, Box 18, Folder 510)
Frederick, Antoinette. Northeastern University: An Emerging Giant, 1959-1975. Boston: Northeastern University Custom Book Program, 1982. CALL NUMBER: LD4011.N22F7X
—Northeastern University: Coming of Age: The Ryder Years, 1975-1989. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1995. CALL NUMBER: LD4011.N22F732 1995 |
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