February 2016 • Volume 27, Number 2
Nursingmatters www.nursingmattersonline.com
INSIDE: What if
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School celebrates 50 years of success Laurie K. Glass, RN, PhD, FAAN
Bena Henderson
5 Special Deliveries
MADISON WI PERMIT NO. 1723
PAID
ELECTRONIC SERVICE REQUESTED
PRST STD US POSTAGE
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Professor Emerita UW-Milwaukee College of Nursing
Wisconsin’s largest nursing school is celebrating 50 years. The fourth collegiate nursing program established in the state, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Nursing is now the largest program in the state, with 1,550 students – 1,250 undergrad and 300 graduate – and more than 8,000 alumni. A 1956 Statewide Plan for Nursing Education suggested that UW-Madison expand its “output of nurses” using the then-new UW-Milwaukee. There were three collegiate schools in the state at that time – UW, Marquette University and Alverno College. In 1961, an instructor was hired for Milwaukee; Registered Nurse students and pre-service students attended their public-health rotation there. In 1963, two part-time instructors were added and more courses were offered. By 1963 there were 202 RN and pre-service students enrolled at the UW-Milwaukee Division of the UW-Madison School of Nursing. The school was officially created in December 1965 by the UW Board of Regents, admitting freshman and sophomore students in September 1966 and graduating its first class in 1969. All Milwaukee “classes” that graduated before that date were considered UW-Madison graduates. There were 73 graduates between 1964 and 1968 who were UW-Milwaukee graduates receiving UW-Madison degrees. By 1966 there were seven collegiate schools – a reflection of the plan at that time to increase baccalaureate nursing education by adding UW-Oshkosh, UW-Eau Claire and Marian University. It was Dr. Helen L. Bunge, dean at UW-Madison, who wrote the proposal and garnered the support to create the UW-Milwaukee school. She had contacted an old friend to provide the leadership necessary to build a new school. Frances
Helen Bunge, left, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, visits in 1968 with Inez Hinsvark, dean of UW–Milwaukee.
H. Cunningham arrived in Milwaukee in October 1964 to serve as the first and only director of the UW-Madison Division of Nursing at UW-MilwauFrances kee. She was recruited by Cunningham Dean Bunge from Case Western Reserve University. Cunningham had taught and served as an associate dean at Case Western Reserve University for 20 years. She held offices in the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. At
A student in 1973 uses a self-instructional lab that includes a computer response unit, at lower right.
Milwaukee, Cunningham was a key figure in facilitating the reorganization and transition from a Division of Nursing to a School of Nursing.
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