Skidmore College Nursing Retrospective

Nursing at Skidmore P R O U D O F O U R PA S T FOCUSED ON OUR FUTURE

N U R S I N G AT S K I D M O R E | PA S T A N D F U T U R E

Skidmore’s history is inextricably tied to nursing and health sciences.

In 1922 the College received its charter as an independent, degree-granting institution, and that same year President Charles Henry Keyes announced the creation of a baccalaureate program in nursing. Forging a new direction in women’s education, the program combined the holistic thinking of the liberal arts with the practice of professional health care— “hand and mind,” as College founder Lucy Skidmore Scribner liked to say. For decades Skidmore nurses helped lead the profession nationally.

Today’s Skidmore College maintains that same commitment to creating and cultivating future health professionals. In 2010 we began a new chapter in science education with President Philip A. Glotzbach’s signature on a comprehensive articulation agreement between Skidmore and the New York University College of Nursing.

Standing on the shoulders of those who came before them, today’s nursing students and educators are ensured the opportunity to shape the future of health care for years to come. Our simple message to all of those who paved the way is “thank you”—we are honored to follow your footsteps.

Science Education at Skidmore Today Science education has always been a source of great pride at Skidmore. Here’s a quick look by the numbers.

1/3 40 100 250

of students now major in the physical and life sciences, and 62 percent of those students are women percent of the faculty teach in one of our 10 science departments students conduct science research each summer students over the past decade have published or presented their scientific work in professional contexts

Skidmore has always embraced change, but in the sciences change is accelerating. We are excited about plans for our new Center for Integrated Sciences—a 200,000-square-foot facility of new and renovated spaces that will bring together all 10 of our physical and life sciences departments, as well as math and computer science. The CIS will also be home to the Idea Lab, a makerspace where students and faculty from different disciplines can join to imagine new answers, build creative approaches, and create thoughtful new solutions for the challenges of today’s world.

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Creative Thought Matters

S KIDM ORE CO L L E G E N UR SING MILE STO N E S In 1922, Skidmore President Charles Henry Keyes announced a new nursing program, one of the first of its kind to combine liberal arts and nursing science. Over six decades, this marquee program was a cornerstone helping to build the Skidmore College we know today.

Explore our proud past in nursing and the bright future of the next generation of Skidmore-educated nursing professionals.

’22

1922: The first class of students is enrolled for a four-year degree. The nursing program is established in affiliation with Mary McClellan Hospital in Cambridge, NY, and with direct support from Irene Ward McClellan.

1927: Edith Wills ’27 (below at left) becomes the program’s first graduate.

’28

1928: Agnes Gelinas is recruited by President Henry T. Moore to chair the Department of Nursing.

1954: Oretta Davis becomes the first

African American graduate of Skidmore’s nursing program.

’42

1942: Skidmore’s is the first baccalaureate program to be accredited for public health nursing by the National Organization for Public Health Nursing.

1942: The nursing program moves to New York City for clinical association with New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital.

Students live in Margaret Fahnstock Hall.

1942: A special “war program” is introduced and, for the duration of World War II, the nursing program adopts a four-year rather than five-year curriculum.

’54

N U RS ING MILE STO N E S

(continued)

1961: Fundraising begins

for a new building in New York City to be completed by 1967 at a cost of $2.9 million.

’61 ’65 ’64

1965: Agnes Gelinas retires and Jean Campbell takes over as chair of the department.

1964: Skidmore’s Nursing

’57

Department is officially named the Irene Ward McClellan Department of Nursing.

1957: Students are living in the “Hall of Residence” of the New York University Medical Center at 550 First Avenue (at East 30th Street)

2010: New York University’s College of Nursing and Skidmore College sign an articulation agreement. Skidmore President Philip A. Glotzbach sends a letter to all Nursing alumni announcing the news.

2012: The first graduates of the Skidmore/NYU nursing program are celebrated.

2017: To date, 18 Skidmore alumni have graduated from the

NYU nursing program, and three more are currently enrolled.

’10 ’12 ’69

1969: Skidmore College leases 325 East 38th Street, later purchasing the property with HUD financing.

’72

1972: 50th Anniversaries are celebrated for

both the College and its Department of Nursing.

’17

’81

1981: A Skidmore chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau

honors society in nursing is established and inducts 42 charter members.

’85

1985: The program, having contracted over recent decades, graduates its last group of nursing students.

Nursing students from the class of 1948 make their way into Post Graduate Hospital on East 20th Street in New York City.