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Academic Health Center Oral History Project

About the School of Nursing

Established in 1909, the University of Minnesota School of Nursing was the first nursing program on a university campus. The first program leading to a baccalaureate degree began in 1919. A master’s degree program was first offered by the School of Nursing in 1950 and through the Graduate School beginning in 1962. The Ph.D. program was established in 1983.

Please click here for a timeline of the School of Nursing.

Duxbury, Mitzi

Duxbury.jpgMitzi Duxbury received her nursing diploma from Madison General Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1952, her BS in Nursing in 1966, her MA in Educational Policy in 1970, and her Ph.D. in Educational Administration in 1972, all from the University of Wisconsin. From 1972-1976, she worked for the March of Dimes. In 1977, she came to the University of Minnesota as the Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor in the School of Nursing. In 1979, she was appointed Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies. She left the University of Minnesota in 1983 and moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago as the Dean of their School of Nursing.

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Edwardson, Sandra

Sandra Edwardson.png Sandra Edwardson attended the University of Minnesota School of Public Health to pursue a Ph.D. in hospital and healthcare administration. After completing her Ph.D., Edwardson became an instructor in the Independent Study Program in Hospital and Healthcare Administration, after which she was appointed to an assistant professorship in 1979 in the Nursing Administration Program within the School of Nursing, which she took over one year later. She became an assistant dean in the School of Nursing under Ellen Fahy from 1981 to 1983. In 1992 she was named dean of the School of Nursing and resigned from the position in 2004. She continues to serve on the nursing faculty.

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Kloempken, Eva

Kloempken.JPGEva Kloempken graduated from the University of Minnesota's School of Nursing in 1929. She spent her career as a nurse at Northern Pacific Beneficial Association Hospital in St. Paul.

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Lillehei, Katherine

lillehei.jpgKatherine Lillehei received her nursing diploma in 1943, and her BS in Nursing in 1950 from the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. After graduating she worked as a nurse at University Hospital. She was married to the pioneering cardiac surgeon C. Walton Lillehei. She also remained involved with the School of Nursing, playing a prominent role in its fundraising efforts, and serving on the board of the School of Nursing Foundation.

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Manthey, Marie

MManthey.jpgMarie Manthey was born and raised in Chicago Illinois. She served as associate director of nursing at the University of Minnesota Hospital (1964-1971), as assistant administrator and director of nursing at United Hospitals of St. Paul (during the 1970s), and the vice president of patient services at Yale New Haven Hospital. During her tenure at the University of Minnesota Hospital, Manthey led the development of primary nursing and is recognized, nationally and internationally, as the founder of primary nursing. In 1979, Manthey founded Creative Health Care Management, a consulting firm specializing in the organization and delivery of health care services.

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Marks, Florence

FMarks.jpgFlorence Marks was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1928. She received her BS from the University of Cincinnati in 1949, her BS in Nursing from the University of Minnesota in 1953, and her MA in Nursing Administration also from the University of Minnesota in 1956. From 1953-54, she worked as a general staff nurse and assistant head nurse at the University of Minnesota Hospital. From 1956-1961, she worked as a nursing supervisor at the Variety Club Heart Hospital at the University of Minnesota. In 1962, she was the special assistant to the director of Nursing Services at the University Hospital.

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Martinson, Ida M.

Ida Martinson.JPGIda Martinson received her baccalaureate degree in nursing education and her Masters in nursing administration from the University of Minnesota in the early 1960s, and her Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Illinois in 1972. After earning her Ph.D., she joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing where she was centrally involved in establishing and running the Home Care for the Dying Child Project. In 1982, she moved to the University of California, San Francisco, as a professor in the Department of Family Health Care Nursing in their School of Nursing.

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Sime, A. Marilyn

Sime photo.JPGMarilyn Sime received her Diploma in Nursing in 1956 from St. Francis School of Nursing in Minot, ND; her BS in Nursing Education, with a minor in psychiatric nursing in 1959 from the University of Minnesota; her MS in Psychiatric Nursing in 1964 from Boston University, and her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in 1973 from the University of Minnesota. She joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing in 1964. From 1978 to 1995, Sime served as director of Graduate Studies and assistant dean of Graduate Studies. She retired from the University of Minnesota in 1997.

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Stryker-Gordon, Ruth

Stryker-Gordon_Ruth.jpgRuth Stryker-Gordon received her BA in Public Health Nursing from the University of Minnesota in 1948 and her MA in Education from the College of St. Thomas in 1967. She worked as a tuberculosis field nurse for the Minnesota Department of Health for a year after graduating from nursing school, and from 1954-58 worked as a school nurse for the Minneapolis Board of Education. She worked as a pediatric nurse, supervisor, administrator, and instructor at various Twin Cities hospitals during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1972, she became assistant professor in the Center for Long Term Care Administrative Education in the Program in Hospital and Health Care Administration in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.

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Sullivan, Theresa

TSullivan.JPGTheresa Sullivan received her BS in Nursing Education from the University of Minnesota in 1947. She worked in the University Hospital as a nurse until her marriage to Dr. Albert Sullivan, who was a faculty member in the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota from the early 1950s and served as associate dean of student affairs at the Medical School from the 1960s.

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Taylor, Eugenia

Taylor_Eugenia.jpgEugenia (Gene) Taylor earned her BS in Nursing Education and Public Health Nursing from the University of Minnesota in 1949. From 1949-1986, she was a faculty member in the School of Nursing. Taylor directed the School's Practical Nursing Program from 1947 until the program's termination in 1967.

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Weckwerth, Vernon

VWeckwerth.JPG Vernon Weckwerth completed his undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Minnesota. He earned his B.S. in 1954 in Mathematics and Education while in the Air Force ROTC. He earned his M.S. in 1956 in Biostatistics and Mathematics, and his Ph.D. in 1963 in Biostatistics and Public Health. While working on his Ph.D., from 1958 to 1959, Weckwerth taught Biostatistics in the School of Public Health and also worked in Chicago as the head of the Department of Research and Statistics of the AHA and as Assistant Director of Hospital Research and the Educational Trust. Weckwerth returned to the University of Minnesota as a summer program administrator and lecturer. Because of his experiences in Chicago, he became a professor of hospital administration in the School of Public Health in 1964. During his tenure, he began the Independent Study Program, tailored as an executive training program particularly for rural administrators. In that same year, Weckwerth became a coordinator for the Office of Continuing Hospital and Health Care Education. In 1969, he also became a professor in the Department of Family Practice, which he launched. He formally retired in 2009, but continues to do work with the University.

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Weise, Ruth

Weise.JPGRuth Weise received her Bachelors in Nursing Education in 1946 and her MA in Nursing Education in 1954 from the University of Minnesota. She was a faculty member in the School of Nursing from 1946 until 1963, and then from 1973 until her retirement in 1986.

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