Lifetimes of Dedication and Service: Meharry Medical College School of Nursing Graduates

Description

The purpose of this project is to document the careers and contributions of Meharry Medical College School of Nursing's generic graduates. It is not a history of Meharry Medical College (established in 1876) nor a history of the School of Nursing (1900-1962). Instead, it focuses on stories about some of the 666 Meharry nurse graduates who completed their generic preparation for professional nursing practice before the academic program was discontinued in 1962. A scarcity of archival information about the nurse graduates--including their contributions to nursing and society--inspired this project. Meharry Medical College remains one of the nation's most distinguished Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with thriving medical, dental, and graduate schools. Originally, the stimulus for the project emerged from a Chicago-based focus group of Meharry School of Nursing graduates who realized the value of having such information in perpetuity. An all-volunteer national Working Group of Nurse Alumni was later convened to continue planning and implementing a History Project in cooperation with Meharry's National Alumni Association and the Office of the President. The ongoing work of collecting the stories of the graduates started in 2008.