School of Nursing History

On January 2, 1931, the school opened its doors to its first class of 24 undergraduate students.

The school has offered many different degrees over the years. The first students -- high school graduates -- received a diploma after a three-year program that cost just $100 per year. In 1938, the school began offering baccalaureate degrees to students who had completed two years of college along with the nursing curricula. In 1944, the school began a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education degree program. In 1953, it added a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program. Five years later, under the leadership of Thelma Ingles, The Duke School of Nursing was one of the first schools in the nation to offer a graduate nursing program.

The school laid down the BSN degree program in the 80s to concentrate on the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree, post-master's certificates and joint degree programs. But in 2002, the school once again began offering a BSN degree - this time as an accelerated, 16-month degree offered to students who have already completed a college degree. In 2006, the school accepted the first students into the new PhD program.

In all of these programs, practical nursing service – usually at Duke Hospital – has been an integral part of the nurses' education.

"The school of nursing has a rich history in direct preparation of generalist and advance-practice nurses," says Mary Ann Fuchs, chief nursing and patient care services officer for Duke Hospital and Duke University Health System (DUHS). "These individuals learn in our hospital and clinic settings. Most become DUHS employees or care providers in other organizations across the state. In some way, shape or form, they touch citizens across North Carolina."

An example of the close relationship between school and hospital came in the 70s, when faculty and students alike played vital roles in the creation of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Nursing education lost some steam in the 1980s when the University decided to close the bachelor's program and concentrate on graduate-level nursing. "When Duke closed the undergraduate program, the university alienated many of our alumni. " says Catherine Gilliss, DNSc, RN, FAAN, herself an alumna of the school. "But under my predecessor, Dean Mary Champagne [who served from 1991-2004], the school truly flourished. We have a strong platform from which to build our future."

Gilliss can point to many signs that the future will be even more exciting than the past. "We are recruiting excellent faculty, and our National Institutes of Health funding has risen over the past few years [from 32nd in the nation in 2002 to 23rd in 2004 and 19th in 2005]. We have graduated four groups of students from our accelerated BSN program and our first group of PhD students graduated in the fall of 2006. Our new building was completed in August of 2006, and we are once again under one roof," she says.

"Having navigated a series of enormous challenges," says Gilliss, " we are now looking forward to the next 25 years. I predict that these will be the brightest years for our school. We will continue our tradition of educating the brightest people interested in careers in nursing. But we have layered into this school a commitment to improve patient care through research and a greater commitment to direct participation in nursing practice. We have rediscovered the energy and possibility that comes from reconnecting to Duke University and the Health System through collaborative work on issues such as global health and improving care through nursing research."