A Look at the School of Nursing’s Academic Programming and Facilities Over the Years
Students who enrolled in the School of Nursing in 1924 had some choices when it came to their academic journey. In the May 1927 Wisconsin Alumni Magazine (Volume 28, Number 7) (shown right), it noted, “Next June, the University will grant for the first time a certificate of Graduate Nurse. In connection with Wisconsin General Hospital and the Medical School, there was established at the University in 1924 a School of Nursing. One three-year and two five-year courses were inaugurated.”
The university catalog from 1924-25 noted that for the three-year course, one semester of academic work and 32 months of “training in residence,” now known as clinical work, were required. Students obtained instruction in medicine, surgery, and principles of nursing, as well as ward practice in the wards and out-patient department of the hospital, and practical training in public health nursing. The three-year course led to the certificate of Graduate Nurse.
From the Archives: An account from one of the first graduates of the School of Nursing
“The first class of the University of Wisconsin School of Nursing started their pre-clinical work on the hill in September, 1924,” said Faith Baumgartner Zwicky Cert’27 in an article from the 1957 Nurses Alumnae Bulletin. “Our classes were held in the infirmary, chemistry building, science hall, and Bascom Hall,” Zwicky continued. “The new hospital was just being completed and we received our practice in the art of making beds by going in and making the beds in the empty wards so that they were ready for occupancy.”
For the five-year course that resulted in a combined degree, three years of academic work were followed by 27 months of residence training. Students who chose the five-year route would graduate with not only their certificate of Graduate Nurse, but a bachelor of science (BS) degree, as well. Like the certificate option, during their time in residence students were instructed in medicine, surgery, principles of nursing, ward practice in the wards and out-patient department of the hospital, and practical training in public health nursing.
The 1924-25 catalog noted that there were two tracks for those who wanted to go the combined route to earn their BS — students could complete their three years of academic courses in either the College of Agriculture or the College of Letters and Science. Those who chose the College of Agriculture would earn a bachelor of science (home economics) degree. Those who went the route of Letters and Science would earn a bachelor of science (hygiene).
No matter the track a student chose, or whether they earned a certificate or a degree, the School of Nursing had high collegiate standards for entrance, academic work, and clinical practice. “The ward is carefully supervised by experienced instructors so that, while it has practical value in adding to the care received by patients, it has real educational value from the standpoint of the student,” the Wisconsin Alumni Magazine noted. “It is already recognized as among the foremost schools of Nursing in the country.” Whichever academic route a student chose, both groups were considered alumni of the school and both participated in the university’s graduation ceremony. Although many who earned their certificate went on to complete the requirements for a degree, the School of Nursing and the Nurses’ Alumnae Organization (NAO) considered the graduates to be members of the class year from which they received their certificates.
By 1934, the certificate program was changed to two semesters on campus followed by 27 months of clinical practice. In School of Nursing’s academic offerings underwent a significant change as the first nursing major was officially offered. The degree led to a bachelor of science (hygiene) with a major in public health nursing, and was offered in conjunction with the College of Letters and Science. The major in public health nursing was open to not only undergraduate students, but also registered nurses who wished to become certified as public health nurses in Wisconsin.
The August 1939 university catalog listed the School’s combined courses as the following: “Three curriculums are offered of combined academic and resident professional instruction leading to the degree of bachelor of science and certificate of graduate nurse. Each requires somewhat more than five years for completion including 27 months of resident professional work in the School of Nursing.” It went on to note that two curriculums were offered that led to a bachelor of science (hygiene) degree offered by the College of Letters and Science. One degree option awarded the new public health nursing major, while the other permitted a choice of majors from the various fields available in the College of Letters and Science and in the Medical Sciences. The third route of the BS (home economics) from the College of Agriculture rounded out the degree offerings. The option for the certificate of graduate nurse also remained.
In 1940, the pre-clinical portion of the program was extended from one to four semesters, making it four full semesters of academic instruction, and 27 months of clinical practice. It marked the official end to the three-year program, but the certificate option remained.
During World War II, the School began working with the American Red Cross to offer evening classes in home hygiene and care of the sick throughout the school year. Several graduates of the School of Nursing served as instructors during this time. The School also participated in the U.S. Cadet Corps program from 1943 to 1947, which provided students with tuition, books, and uniforms. At the time the University offered accelerated academic programs to help graduates join wartime efforts sooner. The School participated in this accelerated program, which included 15-week summer session that allowed nursing students to graduate three months earlier than its typical academic programs at the time.
Interest in the nursing field increased following the war, and the number of registered nurses enrolling in the School increased with nurse veterans taking advantage of the G.I. Bill of Rights. The natural result was more changes to the degree makeup. By 1946, two professional nursing majors were being offered. A major in ward management and ward teaching was added in the fall of 1946 to go along with the public health nursing major. The public health major was revised and received full approval by the Committee on Accreditation of the National Organization for Public Health nursing in the spring of 1947. Both programs were offered under the College of Letters and Science, leading to a bachelor of science, hygiene, with majors in either public health nursing or ward management and ward teaching. All the while, the original BS (hygiene) degree with the option to choose from various major fields in the College of Letters and Science, as well as the BS (home economics) degree remained, as did the certificate of graduate nurse.
In 1952, the title of the degree was officially changed. Nurses would now graduate with a BS (nursing), although the new degree was still conferred by the College of Letters and Science. The June 1953 university catalog noted, “At the present time, the School of Nursing has two curricula: Curriculum A, the Basic Professional course which prepares the student for the Certificate of Graduate Nurse and the degree of Bachelor of Science (Nursing), and Curriculum B, for graduate professional nurses, which leads to the degree of Bachelor of Science (Nursing) with a major in either Public Health Nursing or Ward Management and Ward Teaching.” The number of required credits needed to graduate also changed, reducing from 139 to 127. It marked a significant change in academic programming.
At this time, students still had the option of going different routes. In the 1955 university catalog, it stated that the combined major in home economics and nursing that led to a BS (home economics) degree was still an option, although it was no longer included under the School of Nursing’s offerings, and was only listed in the School of Home Economics’ course offerings. In addition, students who were still interested in combining the study of nursing with another major in the College of Letters and Science could still choose to do so by taking the Bachelor of Arts (BA), or BS (general course) degree and electing those courses in nursing in order to earn the certificate of graduate nurse.
1955 was a significant year as the Department of Nursing was established as part of the University’s Extension Division. Signe Skott Cooper Cert’43, ’48, MEd, RN, FAAN, occupied the lone position within the School of Nursing at the time of its initiation. Up until that point the School had pioneered the development of continuing education in nursing with noncredit Extension course titled Supervision and Teaching of Nurses in Training, which was taught in Milwaukee. The School had also sponsored refresher courses and workshops for returning nurses in the 1940s and 1950s. (For more on the School’s continuing education and nursing professional development ventures, see pages 140-145.)
Did you know?
Even before the School of Nursing had access to the Clinical Science Center and its state-of-the-art television studio in 1979, self-guided learning was utilized as early as the 1960s. To educate the growing ranks of students in the 1960s and 1970s, School of Nursing faculty developed a technology-based, self-guided learning environment. Students could complete lessons by reviewing nursing procedures using headphones and viewing films and slides. These learning modules were supplemented with the ingenious use of everyday objects — such as practicing hypodermic injections on an orange, or practicing sterilization techniques with specially designed kits.
In the fall of 1956, the first four-year curriculum was initiated, and the certificate program was discontinued. The curriculum of this new four-year program included three eight-week summer sessions, so it was four full calendar years to complete the work. That same year, the School of Nursing separated from the College of Letters and Science but remained under the umbrella of the Medical School — yet another significant milestone in the School’s efforts to eventually become a standalone unit on campus.
The August 1957 university catalog noted, “In 1956 the degree was no longer granted through the College of Letters and Science and the program was revised to one of four academic years and three summers. The degree continued to be a Bachelor of Science (Nursing) and the major became General Nursing.” The two curricula, Curriculum A for basic professional nursing, and Curriculum B which was designed for graduate professional nurses wishing to continue their education to qualify for a BS (Nursing) degree, remained. However, the majors in public health nursing and ward management and ward teaching were now only offered for those returning nurses looking to earn their degree. Both degrees were conferred by the university through the Medical School.
With the installation of the new four-year program, the class of 1960 (who entered the university in the fall of 1955) was the last class of the five-year academic program. This class received their certificates in January 1960. The first class in the four-year program began in the fall of 1956, and its members received their degrees in June 1960; as a result, there were two separate classes of 1960.
That year also marked the pivotal moment in School of Nursing history when the Nurses’ Dormitory closed as a residence hall for students. Kaye Lillesand ’60, recalled living in the Nurses’ Dormitory at that time. After she received her certificate in January 1960, she completed the academic coursework and was awarded her degree in August of that same year.
Ardyce Halverson McMillen ’60 was also a member of the Class of 1960. “The Adams – Weed class,” she noted — referred to as such because of the first and last surnames of the cohort in alphabetical order.
The first class in the four-year program also lived in the Nurses’ Dormitory during this time — a special situation as the class was originally supposed to have lived in regular university housing. Carol Hofheinz Arvay ’60, a member of the first four-year class, explained that while the new curriculum was designed with nursing students meant to be residing in university housing for the entirety of their education for the first time in School history, they were able to advocate for the right to conclude their undergraduate work living in the Nurses’ Dorm. “There was no news bulletin informing us that we would not be living in the Nurses’ Dormitory for our junior and senior years,” she said. “A classmate with a father [who was a lawyer] pursued our right to be in the dorm, and so we were the last class to be admitted [into the School] to live in 1402 University Avenue.” After the second class of 1960 graduated in June, the Nurses’ Dormitory closed as a student residence. It was then used for administrative and faculty offices as well as classroom space. In 1962, the majors in public health nursing as well as ward management and ward teaching were discontinued, although the program for registered nurses wishing to earn their BS degree in nursing remained.
The early 1960s saw even more growth and development for the School of Nursing as technology was beginning to be integrated into academic programming and continuing nursing education. The introduction of the use of television as a teaching tool came about in 1963. The School quickly became an early pioneer in the use of television in teaching with the creation of its first televised course, “Fundamentals in Nursing” thanks to the work of then-Assistant Professor May Shiga Hornback Cert’53, ’54, PhD, RN, who designed and produced the program.
In addition, the use of an audio-tutorial laboratory where students were taught by “carrel.” Carrel was not a person, but rather a technique that took the place of the traditional lecture model. This technique was used for several classes. Each carrel was equipped with a tape player, slide projector, small screen, and headphones on top of other instructional tools. Students would listen to a tape recorded lecture and receive appropriate slide demonstrations that were synchronized with the tape. Each lesson was approximately an hour’s worth of work. In a March 8, 1967 article on the technique published in University Hospital’s News Review, it noted, “One of the major advantages of the carrel method for the drug preparation unit is that students can go at their own rate of learning speed. There is a one-to-one teaching situation not found in large classes learning drug preparation.” To add to the technological offerings on top of television and audio-tutorial methods, faculty were also involved in additional teaching innovations thanks to the statewide telephone network known as the Educational Teleconference Network or ETN (For more on the ETN and its impact, see page 144.) Academic offerings were quickly evolving thanks to the various technological advances, but the School was about to see the start of another wave of change with the rise of nursing research. 1964 saw the introduction of the first graduate program within the School of Nursing’s history, a master of science degree in pediatric nursing. The program opened the doors for research and scholarship at the School thanks to Florence Blake, MA, RN, who was brought in to help establish the program. The internationally renowned nurse specialist immediately began to guide the program and inspire a generation of nurse clinicians and researchers.
In the January 1965 issue of Wisconsin Alumnus Magazine (Volume 66, Number 4) Blake said, “Our purpose is to prepare pediatric nurse specialists for positions of responsibility and leadership in the field of maternal and child health.” She added that the need for practicing nurses to take major responsibility both in nursing service and nursing education was critical, noting that the new graduate program was created to prepare practitioners for these exact responsibilities.
The master of science in pediatric nursing program was such a success that in August of 1969 the graduate school authorized establishment, on an experimental basis, of a master of science in nursing program with a specialization in medical-surgical nursing which would begin in 1970. The program’s experimental status allowed the School time to prepare documents needed for the graduate school, Board of Regents, and for accreditation approval. The extra time proved productive, and in 1971 the official establishment of the master of science in nursing degree with specializations in both medical-surgical nursing as well as psychiatric mental health nursing were added to the graduate program offerings.
Over the years, more specializations were added to the master of science in nursing program, and at the time the program came to an end it had evolved to offer clinical specialties in adult health, gerontology, pediatrics, psychiatric mental health nursing, and women’s health nursing. As the master of science in nursing track was phased out, students needed to have all degree requirements completed by August, 2012, marking the official end to the program. During the late 1960s, the School of Nursing took a big leap forward in establishing itself as its own entity on campus. While the School first separated from the College of Letters and Science back in 1956, it remained under the auspices of the Medical School. After earning independent status from the Board of Regents in 1967, the UW–Madison School of Nursing became an autonomous unit within the university.
The early 1970s saw additional academic growth. For the undergraduate program, 1970 was a time of significant change for the BS in nursing degree program as it transitioned to four academic years rather than four calendar years, and underwent an in-depth curriculum study to address the evolving needs of health care. While the curriculum has been overhauled many times since, the traditional undergraduate degree format of four academic years, comprised of two years of pre-nursing coursework and two years of clinical study, has not changed. The in-depth curriculum study during this time led to the forward-thinking redesign of the School’s baccalaureate teachings, increasing overall interest in the program and garnering national attention for its innovative curriculum.
As a result of its attention-grabbing curriculum changes that were created to prepare nurses for evolving and expanding roles within health care, the School was awarded a $93,000 planning grant in 1971 to further implement its new academic programming. It was a fantastic way to lead into the School’s 50th anniversary in 1974, a year which saw additional growth and change including the first class to graduate from the newly expanded curriculum. At this time, enrollment soared to the highest in its history, coming in at nearly 1,300 students and nearly doubling in size from just over 700 enrolled nursing students. In addition, the boom in enrollment, combined with a slew of well-timed grants, led to exciting new opportunities for the School of Nursing.
Between 1975 and 1977, the School added three nurse practitioner programs — geriatric, pediatric, and adult. The nurse practitioner programs, innovative and first-of-their-kind, became an area of distinction for the School of Nursing.
The increase in enrollment and academic offerings meant the School’s already tight learning spaces were due for a much needed expansion. In addition, those tight spaces were soon to get even tighter, as 1977 saw the Board of Regents grant the School of Nursing an entitlement to begin planning for a doctoral program in nursing.
Thankfully, 1978 saw the School of Nursing become the first unit on campus to occupy the new Clinical Science Center (CSC) on the west end of campus. The uniquely built CSC building was created to replace old, outdated facilities in the Wisconsin General Hospital, which had served more than 50 years as the cutting-edge hospital for the Wisconsin community. Despite its offerings, the hospital had become outdated and cramped, even with upgrades to the facility in the mid-1950s. By 1965, it was accepted that the Wisconsin General Hospital was quickly being outgrown, and a formal plan had been put into place with a new site proposed with 45 acres of land available just north of the Veteran’s Administration Hospital. After years of consultation, planning, estimates, and contracts, groundbreaking on the first phase of the CSC took place on May 23, 1973.
While the School of Nursing and various parts of the Medical School began to move into the new building in January and February of 1978, construction was not officially completed until 1979. In its entirety, the new CSC facility was more than five times the size of the old Wisconsin General Hospital. Located at 600 Highland Avenue, it was funded in part with a $4 million federal grant to construct new nursing education facilities housed in its own wing. The CSC expanded the resources available to the School for teaching and research, opening up access to modern, state-of-the-art, and technologically-advanced facilities including three behavioral labs and three wet labs for nursing research. The 1.5 million square foot CSC building at the time provided facilities for the medical and nursing schools, as well as UW Hospitals and Clinics, UW Clinical Cancer Center, UW Children’s Hospital.
The building was designed as a series of interconnected 120-foot by 120-foot one story blocks, or modules, supported at the corners by octagonal service towers containing elevators, stairways, lavatories, lobbies, and utility rooms. Every location had an alpha-numeric “name” associated with it. The module where the School of Nursing was housed was called K6, which was located at the far northeast end of the building. The main entrance for students and staff of the School of Nursing was in the North Entrance, Lobby K.
The new space bolstered the School of Nursing’s range of resources. With amenities and space dedicated to research, scholarship, and education, all with the latest technology, it marked a new era for the School. The CSC still stands today, serving as the home for the University of Wisconsin Hospital and clinics where School of Nursing students can gain hands-on, practical experiences in real clinical settings. With room to stretch in the new CSC facilities, the School established a color television studio in 1979, which was available for faculty, staff, and students within the CSC. It had capabilities to provide media for teaching, in-service programs, lectures, research, and additional areas of education. The addition of the studio allowed for School of Nursing faculty to increase their efforts in technology-based learning and teaching methods.
With substantial growth to both the School of Nursing and the profession during this time, the School continued to evolve the academic offerings to meet new workforce demands. Academics were tailored to meet the challenges that were arising as the profession advanced and grew within health care, and research within the School was expanding into new territory thanks to heightened funding from grants and initiatives. As nursing research within the profession shifted its focus on patients and patient behavior, so did the focus on research efforts within the School of Nursing.
The 1980s saw an explosion of funding to support faculty research. After a fund was established to support research faculty in 1980, additional grants and funding began to roll in to support various research initiatives. In 1984, the doctoral program in nursing and psychology was approved by the Board of Regents. The program provided research training in nursing and psychology, and combined psychology’s traditional behavioral studies with nursing’s interest in the study of patient behavior in relation to health and illness.
On July 1, 1985, the University Extension’s Department of Nursing was officially integrated into the School of Nursing. The program, which was reaching out to more than 2,000 practicing nurses each year, allowed the School to expand its outreach and engagement efforts with nurses statewide. The integration of continuing nursing education into the School led to three cable television courses being produced in 1986. The courses were offered over WHA Cable TV’s Lifelong Learning Channel and were used for off-campus credit outreach.
In 1986, the School merged its Data Analysis and Computing Services Center, which offered statistical and research computing facilities, with the Instructional Materials Center (IMe) to form the Computer and Instructional Resource Center (CIRe). Funding was received that same year through the Instructional Laboratory Modernization grant to fund the nursing arts lab, which was equipped with state-of-the-art equipment where nursing students could advance their clinical nursing skills. Additional funding received through the Instructional Laboratory Modernization grant in 1987 helped develop the CIRe so nursing students could obtain assisted instruction using computers, participate in computer-based simulations, as well as utilize the facility for computer-managed instruction and simulated research.
All of the success and growth in nursing research within the School helped it become home to a major research journal in 1988 known as Research in Nursing and Health. The publication was edited by professors Margaret Williams, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Marilyn Oberst, EdD, RN, FAAN. That same year, the School’s CIRe facility was renamed the Alice Simonds Center for Instruction and Research to honor clinical professor and alumnus Alice Simonds ’62, MS, RN, whose efforts throughout her more than 20-year School of Nursing career helped shape the quality of instruction with the use of all forms of instructional technology to promote learning.
In 1988, the School of Nursing became the campus host to the Instructional Television Fixed Service, which provided programming that reached viewers within a 35-mile radius of campus. The Madison branch was one of 13 that was eventually networked throughout the state, and the creation of the facility helped the School of Nursing to be considered one of four major video studios on campus at the time. As the School celebrated its 65th anniversary in 1989, nursing research continued to evolve and expand even after a decade of already impressive growth. As the School of Nursing transitioned into a new decade, the research focus was stronger than ever, but a return to evolving academic offerings was on the horizon. With so much change to nursing research, the PhD program experienced some changes in 1992 as it was revised and expanded. No longer a joint degree in nursing and psychology, the new format allowed for the linkage with any other department on campus for an area of secondary concentration.
A new, innovative degree program was also introduced in 1992. The RN Dual Option Degree Program was designed for registered nurses with their associate degree or diploma that wanted to pursue earning their baccalaureate degree or even their master’s or doctoral degree. The Dual Option Degree Program promoted advanced education to talented, dedicated, driven nurses looking to further their education.
In 1993, the School initiated its first honors program. Offered to nursing students seeking their bachelor of science degree as part of the traditional program, the honors program provides special opportunities for high ability students seeking greater depth and challenge in their educational experience. It includes enriched course work and research involvement, as well as the opportunity to develop a mentoring relationship with a nursing professor. Students who successfully complete the honors program graduate with a distinguished academic performance and receive a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with Honors. The program is still offered today.
From the Archives: One of the first announcements of the School of Nursing’s new website
Pulled from the 1997 Nursing Dimensions magazine, this graphic supported an article that featured how technology was revolutionizing nursing education in the mid-1990s. It was one of the first times the new website had been mentioned in print form. The technology was so new that the School needed to provide explanations as to what a URL is (Uniform Resource Locator), and how to navigate to the School’s homepage.
With continued growth of academic and research efforts, discussions began in 1994 among faculty and staff about the need for facility expansion. Consideration was made to expand into WARF (the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation building); however School representatives chose instead to wait until the School of Nursing could get its own building. In the meantime, the early 1990s continued to see a consistent flow of incoming grants and funding for research, as well as increased use of technology. In 1995, the School of Nursing launched its first website, setting the School up for a whole new era of nursing research and education. The website quickly became the School’s primary medium for internal and external communication.
Thanks to the increased advancements in technology, and with the original RN Dual Option Degree Program as a guide, 1996 saw the introduction of the Collaborative Nursing Program (now referred to as the BSN@Home program), a degree access effort among UW– Madison, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Oshkosh. The courses marked the first effort of its kind among System campuses and were the culmination of increased development in the technology of distance education. The highly successful launch of the program was praised and noted as exceptional by the Board of Regents, UW System, and by then-Governor Thompson. The program initially launched with content taught utilizing audiographics and video conferencing and began including online courses a few years later. The audiographics segments were soon phased out and the format moved entirely online by 2002-2003. It has been an online program ever since and is just as successful as when it first launched.
With the School fully committed to its online presence, the first online course was launched in 1997. Primary Health Care in the School Setting, taught by then-Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Outreach Pat Lasky MS’68, PhD’80, RN, was only available online — even for students who were part of the regular undergraduate program on UW– Madison’s campus. The course, which typically had low enrollment, had been available as a video course which was limited by the locations where it was offered. However, with the transition to the online format, nurses who were interested in the school nurse certification could access the course asynchronously, and from whatever location they chose, allowing for greater flexibility which led to an increase in enrollment. The initial course opened the doors for more online offerings in the ensuing years. In 1999, the School of Nursing landed a significant grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a comprehensive training program in nursing research. The $1 million grant was one of fewer than a dozen training grants of its kind awarded to nursing schools nationwide at the time. The grant provided funding for 10 pre-doctoral and four postdoctoral students to be trained as nurse scholars who investigate how nurses influence patient behavior through the delivery of health information. It was a wonderful way to help celebrate the School’s 75th anniversary. The focus on technology and research continued through the remainder of the 1990s and led to more academic opportunities at the turn of the century. The addition of an early-entry PhD program in 2003 made it possible for undergraduate students interested in research careers to advance directly into the PhD program upon completing their BS in nursing. It was the first program of its kind in the United States.
The year 2003 was also a big one in that the Campus Planning Committee selected the School of Nursing’s new building as the top campus priority. While no state funding was available at the time, it jump-started discussions about the School’s new home. As a result, the Class of 1953 began fundraising for the new nursing building as a 50th reunion project. Subsequent classes followed suit creating the “1402 Club.”
In the meantime, throughout all of the growth and expansion of research ventures and technology, the School’s home in the Clinical Science Center was holding steady. However, advancements in nursing education and research needed to keep up with the times, and the School of Nursing was quickly finding that more adequate facilities were needed. Despite all the CSC had to offer the School of Nursing at the time, growth and expansion was inevitable.
As a result of a new campus plan launched in 1996 to expand the health sciences learning facilities, the HealthStar initiative was approved by the state legislature and governor as part of the 1997-1999 Capital Budget. This allowed for the approval of plans for the new Health Sciences Learning Center (HSLC), which, upon completion, would provide new multi-disciplinary facilities for health science education on campus. The HealthStar projects also included an Interdisciplinary Research Complex, Rennebohm Hall for the School of Pharmacy, and related work on roadways to accommodate the expansion.
Less than a decade later, the Health Sciences Learning Center (HSLC) opened and positioned nursing education for the 21st century. The School was able to introduce more simulation environments into its curriculum. When UW–Madison School of Nursing students returned to campus for the start of the fall 2004 semester, they walked into one of the most sophisticated interdisciplinary educational buildings in the United States.
Directly connected to the CSC and linked to the School of Pharmacy by way of an enclosed aerial walkway over Highland Avenue, the new 250,000 square foot HSLC was ahead of its time. Focused on linking the latest in science and technology with an artfully designed environment, it also brought together the diverse groups of students in the health sciences sector on campus — from nursing, medicine, pharmacy, occupational therapy, and physician assistant programs — to create a community where all could pursue the art and science of healing together. Collaborative arrangements with several campus departments and multidisciplinary research endeavors expanded the practice, education, and research experiences available to students. Faculty, staff, and students were able to maintain affiliations with numerous health, education, and social service agencies throughout urban and rural Wisconsin. The HSLC provided students access to the latest educational technology, five lecture halls including the 350-seat Alumni Hall, 31 classrooms including 16 break-out rooms, 24 clinical assessment rooms; and six distance-education rooms. Wireless access, sophisticated technology at the time, allowed presenters to use an array of audiovisual equipment such as touch-panel monitors, electric whiteboards, and much more, truly placed the new building at the forefront of technology.
School of Nursing faculty were especially excited about two of the building’s features, in particular-the distance education and the clinical-skills assessment areas. The distance-education rooms provided live access connection to the School’s Western Campus (see sidebar for more information on the Western Campus). School of Nursing faculty and students were able to connect directly with their La Crosse counterparts to share meetings, presentations, instruction and more. In addition, School of Nursing facilities within the HSLC included behavioral, physiological, and interpretive research laboratories. The Simonds Center and the Research Design and Statistics Unit, for example, provided information technology services and assistance in research design, data management, and statistical analysis.
Did you know…
In 2002, the UW–Madison School of Nursing opened a western campus in La Crosse. Created in partnership with Gundersen Lutheran Health System, the satellite campus offered a BS in nursing. In the fall of 2003, the first class of students began their baccalaureate nursing program at the newly named Gunderson Lutheran the UW-Madison Western Campus for Nursing. It marked the first, and only, time in the School’s history that it added a second campus to its name. The partnership allowed students who were admitted to the School of Nursing to complete the nursing program in La Crosse, where they were taught by both Gundersen Lutheran and UW–Madison nursing faculty and instructional academic staff. Thanks to innovative technology, students at the Western Campus enjoyed the benefits of working in La Crosse without sacrificing what Madison campus had to offer.
As the UW–Madison School of Nursing began to re-engineer its curriculum in 2012, the decision was made to end the partnership with Gundersen Lutheran. The final class to graduate was in May 2013. “This has been a very successful seven-year partnership, and one that we are quite proud of,” said then-Dean Katharyn May, PhD, RN, FAAN, in April 2012 when the announcement to end the program was made.
The clinical skills assessment suite of the HSLC provided opportunities for close simulation of patient care. Compared to previous facilities the School of Nursing had access to throughout its first 80 years, the HSLC was a breath of state-of-the-art fresh air. While the plans for Signe Skott Cooper Hall (then referred to as the Nursing Sciences Center) were already in discussion, the completion of the HSLC was a well-needed first step to providing students, faculty, and staff with the resources and space they so desperately needed. With more room and top-of-the-line facilities, the School of Nursing was able to raise undergraduate admissions from 80 to 100 students to help meet workforce concerns. Along with moving into the HSLC in 2004, the School also partnered with UW Hospital and Clinics to develop the Vizient/American Association of Colleges of Nursing Nurse Residency Program, which was designed to address high turnover among its new nursing hires. In its transition-to-practice program, newly hired nurses at UW Health train for 12 months alongside experienced colleagues to help build confidence, skills, and resiliency. The program is still operating today.
The Nurse Education for Tomorrow (NET) program was also initiated in 2004. The program was an innovative resource to provide nurses the opportunity to enroll in a master’s program online or gain postmaster’s credits while remaining in their home communities. NET broadened the online programming being offered to those in continuing education in rural areas, and the initiative planted a seed about the importance of providing care to underserved communities.
While all this growth was occurring, initial plans for the School of Nursing’s new home were in motion. The proposed Nursing Sciences Center, originally slated to be a 48,000 square foot facility, was designed to address the modern day needs of nursing education on a research-intensive university campus. By 2005, faculty, staff, and students had been working with architects to identify desired attributes of the new building as well as details on how the building would support nursing science and education. Eventually, the plans that were submitted featured a 93,000 square foot facility with advanced teaching facilities, more research space, and room for anticipated growth. While it would still take years before funding and necessary approvals would be secured, the plan was in motion.
In fall 2005, the School initiated a degree program combining a master’s in nursing (MS) and a master’s in public health (MPH). Known as the MS/MPH Dual Degree Program, it offers students an interdisciplinary education while preparing them for roles as educators, administrators, and advanced practice nurses in the field of public health. Today, the program has evolved into a BSN to MPH track. The unique degree option gives undergraduate nursing students the opportunity to seek early admission to the MPH program and enroll in selected MPH courses while completing requirements for the BSN. Students can complete both their BSN and their MPH over five years (three years from admission to the nursing program). Graduates of the program are prepared for a wide range of nursing and public health practice positions.
In keeping with the theme of growth and expansion of programming and facilities, 2006 marked a significant milestone for the School of Nursing as focused fundraising began for the freestanding Nursing Science Center building. While the School had been receiving gifts for a new standalone building since 1998, “A Historical Tea” honoring Signe Skott Cooper served as a soft launch for the new building campaign (for more about the event, see page 61). The event got the ball rolling to include all gifts made to the School of Nursing through December 31, 2013, as well as those towards the new building. Dubbed the “Power of Nursing” Campaign, a steering committee was formed in 2008 and the campaign was officially launched in 2009 in conjunction with the annual Littlefield Leadership Lecture (for more about the Littlefield Leadership Lecture, see pages 128-129). It marked the School’s first major fundraising initiative in its history.
In the fall of 2010, the UW-Madison School of Nursing launched its Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. The addition of the DNP program was to help the School provide graduate education for nurses and nurse educators to help meet increasing workforce needs. Sixteen post-master’s students — five clinical nurse specialists and eleven nurse practitioners — enrolled in the first DNP cohort. The introduction of the program meant that the master of science degree for advanced practice nurses was then phased out of the School’s academic offerings.
A year later, in research endeavors, the School received a second NIH grant; the funding supported predoctoral and postdoctoral training involving patient-centered interventions.
While the United States had experienced nursing shortages since before the School opened, the strain on the profession typically resolved itself quickly. However, the turn of the century brought forth new challenges for the nursing profession, and after the early 2000s, the recognition of a significant nursing shortage had risen to the forefront of health care conversations.
On October 15, 2010, a sellout crowd at the Memorial Union Theater welcomed then-former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary and former UW–Madison chancellor Donna Shalala, PhD, as the keynote speaker for the 11th annual Littlefield Leadership Lecture. Shalala spoke on the Institute of Medicine’s landmark report, The Future of Nursing. Its recommendation, to increase the percentage of practicing nurses with a BSN to 80 percent by 2020, was presented to help address the increased demands for more nurses in the workforce.
As the profession was evolving and growing to meet present-day needs, so was the School of Nursing. March of 2011 saw the new nursing building approved in the 2011-13 capital budget, officially giving the green light to begin work on the new facility. Updated building plans were officially approved, and beginning phases of architectural development were moving in the right direction. Support from the Athletic department saw proceeds raised from admission to its 2011 spring football pledged to the School, and those proceeds included a $1 million anonymous gift which was later revealed to have come from the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation. It all helped lay the foundation for great things to come. In February 2012, the Board of Regents approved the naming of the new home of the School of Nursing to be named after Signe Skott Cooper, Cert’43, 48, Med, RN, FAAN, and in April of that year the School broke ground and construction began on the new facility at 701 Highland Avenue (for more on the groundbreaking ceremony, see pages 48-49). By December of 2013, the Power of Nursing Campaign concluded with more than $26million in gifts for facilities, scholarships, and faculty and program support — $17.4 million came from private funding.
Less than a year later, the School of Nursing officially moved into its new home with the opening of Signe Skott Cooper Hall in August of 2014. The culmination of decades of dreaming, persistence, hard work, and determination paid off when construction was officially completed and faculty and staff moved into the offices with three week to spare before the beginning of the fall term.
The move into Cooper Hall marked a full circle moment for the UW–Madison School of Nursing, bringing the School together under the same roof for the first time in decades. Immediately, it began to create a sense of identity for a unit that had often felt invisible on campus for so long. Spread out in various houses and temporary buildings in its early years when the School’s facility was just being built, and then when Nurses’ Dormitory became too cramped as enrollment began to increase in the 40s and 50s, followed by a half a century in the CSC and HSLC, the School of Nursing had lost the sense of home it had once felt when it was under one roof at 1402 University Avenue. The completion of Signe Skott Cooper Hall marked a momentous occasion not just for the state-of-the-art facilities and learning spaces it would provide faculty, staff, and students, but also because it would help build back an identity that would shine bright after having lost its luster for so many years.
The move into Cooper Hall helped add energy to an already bustling School of Nursing community. At the suggestion of Institute of Medicine’s The Future of Nursing report a few years prior, the School began to address the need for more baccalaureate-trained nurses in the workforce. In 2016, Board of Regents approved a new accelerated baccalaureate nursing program for the School of Nursing, and the first cohort of students began in May of 2018. The accelerated program, created to enable the School to enroll more students into its bachelor of science in nursing program, is designed for students who already hold a bachelor’s degree in a different discipline and have met nursing prerequisite requirements.
The School has continued to develop new pathways and access to nursing education in response to the persistent workforce needs. In 2022, the School helped secure a new transfer agreement between Madison College and the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing which addresses the need to create greater access to nursing education. In addition, it supports the need for more BSN-prepared nurses in health care, which will improve health in Wisconsin, the country, and the world. As it has done throughout history, the School has continued to evolve its academic offerings to ensure students are getting the most advanced education possible. In 2023, the School underwent transformational efforts to implement a new clinical judgment model to ensure students are prepared to succeed on the NCLEX, which now puts more emphasis on clinical judgment. In partnership with the Center for Teaching, Learning, & Mentoring (CTLM), a fellowship in spring 2023 brought together eight instructors and two administrative staff to develop recommendations for integrating the new clinical judgment model into efforts throughout the School. The work included developing a common language instructors can use to create a more consistent learning experience. The result is a more refined curriculum that is adapted to the current needs of nursing students, allowing them to make an immediate impact in health care upon graduation.
In addition, in 2024 a partnership between UW–Madison, Madison College, and Edgewood College along with the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) was announced. Officially begun in spring of 2024, the Accelerate Wisconsin initiative is a workforce-focused program that allows students to take the NCLEX prior to graduation. The opportunity will allow interested students to get a jump-start on their careers by allowing them to streamline their pathway to passing the NCLEX and obtaining their licensure.
The School of Nursing’s first 100 years have seen incredible growth and progress. It has leaned into meeting the demands of societal and professional challenges. It has bounded over institutional hurdles and strengthened its research enterprise. It has partnered with communities to create more inclusive health care, and advocated for policy and systems change. The curriculum has been restructured and refined, and the clinical skill sets enhanced. The School has shown it deserves a seat at the table as the profession has advanced and developed into a workforce of changemakers. It has evolved with the rise and constant progression of technology, and embraced how it can improve human-centered care. The School of Nursing has risen to the occasion of recognizing and addressing the challenges of the present-day time and time again.
The decades ahead will test the nursing workforce in ways not yet imagined, but the UW–Madison School of Nursing is building on it’s strong history of leading, innovation, and pushing boundaries to make a positive impact on the world. By honoring the legacy of the School of Nursing’s first 100 years of changing lives, Badger nurses can set their sights on transforming the future in Wisconsin and beyond.