The Pulse

Seeds of Change

Honoring the Legacies of Alumnae

Esther E. McCready and The Honorable Shirley Nathan-Pulliam and Commemorating the Opening of the School’s Expanded Footprint, Providing New Spaces for Learning, Working, and Reflecting

BY EMILY CHAPPELL

Nightingale, Dix, Barton, Mahoney, Parsons, Wald, and Petry – the names of these seven influential nurses have been etched on the façade of the UMSON building in Baltimore since what was then the “new building” was built in the late 1990s.

Now, the names of two trailblazing UMSON alumnae join them, women whose legacies have shaped not only the nursing field, but also the well-being of the city, the state, and beyond.

The last names of Esther E. McCready, DPS (Hon.) ’15, DIN ’53, the first African American to gain admittance to UMSON, and former state Sen. Shirley Nathan-Pulliam, MAS, BSN ’80, RN, FAAN, have been engraved into the façade of the School’s recently opened expanded section, in recognition of their contributions to nursing, education, and public health.

UMSON honored these groundbreaking women’s impact as School, University, and state leaders cut the ribbon on the new space during a celebratory “Seeds of Change” event, Jan. 30.

“Today we come together to celebrate several things,” said Jane M. Kirschling, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Bill and Joanne Conway Dean, during her opening remarks at the event, which brought more than 200 people to the School’s auditorium. “On one level, we celebrate the expansion of the School of Nursing’s footprint here

“With this addition, we have the opportunity to permanently acknowledge two nurses on whose shoulders we all stand, each of whom has had a profoundly significant impact on health care.” on Lombard Street. This renovation and expansion is designed to meet the needs of our changing and growing student population, the next generation of nurses.

“These future nurses stand on the shoulders of all those who have come before them. And with this addition, we have the opportunity to permanently acknowledge two nurses on whose shoulders we all stand, each of whom has had a profoundly significant impact on health care.”

Inside the expanded area, a living green wall spanning two floors is the focal point of a student-focused space, the Virginia Lee Franklin Lounge, on the first floor and a natural light-infused conference room on the second. The conference room includes a large gallery wall showcasing creative works from UMSON students, alumni, and employees.

The newly opened section of the building also includes space housing the Office of Student and Academic Services, the hub of student life and success at UMSON. On the lower level, additional student gathering space includes a collaborative study room plus a casual sitting and eating space with a kitchenette. On the second floor, the expanded area features a display that recognizes the histories and contributions of McCready and Nathan-Pulliam through a museum exhibit (see “New UMSON Pioneer Exhibit Connects Past and Present,” Page 6).

Nathan-Pulliam, who attended the event surrounded by family, colleagues, and friends, said she is tremendously honored to be recognized by the School. “Words can’t express,” she said. “I’m so proud of the School of Nursing. Nationally, we’ve done great, and our nurses are everywhere.”

As a legislator, Nathan-Pulliam realized just how much she learned from her time at the School. “I was always prepared to use the nursing process to solve problems that came before me,” she said.

Upon the Shoulders of Groundbreaking Women

Both McCready’s and Nathan-Pulliam’s legacies are built on decades of breaking barriers. McCready, just 19 at the time, took on not only the School of Nursing, but higher education as a whole, with a landmark lawsuit. In 1950, she pursued a Maryland Court of Appeals decision after UMSON originally denied her admission.

The School’s previous offer to pay for her to attend a Tennessee nursing school had been upheld as legal by a Baltimore court. But with the help of her attorney, Thurgood Marshall, McCready sued for admission to UMSON, and the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled in her favor. In her very first meeting with lawyers, McCready was asked “Who put you up to this?,” said Larry Gibson, LLB, the Morton and Sophia Macht Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, who presented McCready’s history and legacy at the event. “She had replied, ‘No one. I did this on my own, because I am a citizen of Maryland and entitled to attend my state’s nursing school.’”

McCready’s victory held national significance, Gibson said. While there had been Donald Gaines Murray’s court case against the University of Maryland School of Law, University v. Murray, in 1936, which was the first time a U.S. court ordered the desegregation of an educational facility, the decision was restricted to law schools, Gibson said. McCready’s lawsuit impacted all higher education programs.

“The duty of a state to provide equal educational opportunity to its citizens had to be satisfied inside the state’s borders. That led to the admission of African American students into professional and graduate schools all over the nation,” Gibson said. “That is what Esther McCready accomplished.”

McCready received a Doctor of Public Service honorary degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) in 2015.

Nathan-Pulliam was mentored by McCready and continued McCready’s trailblazing work in health care. NathanPulliam served in the Maryland General Assembly for 24 years before retiring as a Maryland state senator in late 2019, having focused her career on ensuring that all Marylanders have access to health care.

In her first year in office, she created a $2.6 million breast cancer diagnosis and treatment program for low-income women. And before retirement, one of her final actions in the Legislature was the creation of the Social Determinants of Health Task Force of Baltimore City, a cutting-edge policy intervention and the first such legislatively mandated task force in the country.

While Nathan-Pulliam might be known for these legislative accomplishments, to many, her legacy is one of friendships and mentorships.

“When I came to the Health and Government Operations Committee, I didn’t know my way, I didn’t know what I was doing,” Maryland Del. Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk, JD, said in her remarks during the event. “But Shirley, she took her time to talk to me, to mentor me, and to give me an opportunity that many people wouldn’t do.”

Nathan-Pulliam wasn’t a mentor only to her legislative colleagues. Yolanda Ogbolu, PhD ’11, MS ’05, BSN ’04, CRNP-Neonatal, FNAP, FAAN, associate professor; chair, Department of Partnerships, Professional Education, and Practice; and co-director, Center for Health Equity and Outcomes Research, first interacted with Nathan-Pulliam as a constituent looking for help.

“I had successfully completed my initial nursing degree at Baltimore City Community College. And the next step was to take the board exam,” she said in her remarks. “My major problem –I had no money to pay the fee.” As a single mother living in an apartment with her 4-year-old daughter, Ogbolu had to make a choice – pay her rent or pay for her board exam. She chose rent.

“But I cried day and night with my decision,” she said. “But then suddenly, I said, ‘I’m going to write to everyone.’ I wrote to the governor, I wrote to my delegates, I wrote to senators at the state. Finally, one person, only one person answered my letters. That was Sen. Shirley Nathan-Pulliam.”

And while Nathan-Pulliam told Ogbolu she’d missed the Maryland deadline for the exam, the legislator arranged for Ogbolu to take it in Delaware. Later, as a PhD student, Ogbolu applied to be a legislative intern with the senator with the hope of reconnecting and paying it forward. Additionally, she said, she wanted to learn how to translate her health equity research into policy. When they met again, Ogbolu asked Nathan-Pulliam if she remembered her. Nathan-Pulliam said she didn’t.

“And during my time with her, I understood why she didn’t remember me. As I read through the piles of letters and listened to phone calls that she received daily, I realized why remembering me would be difficult. The senator has helped 10,000 Yolandas –I just happen to be standing here, the one telling my story,” Ogbolu said.

Eyes Toward the Future

While the Seeds of Change celebration was a chance to look back at the stories of two alumnae who have been instrumental in changing health care, it was also a chance to look forward to the future of nursing.

The expanded and renovated space in the School of Nursing is very special, UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, said, because it’s a place for students to collect themselves and relax among the hustle and bustle of school and clinical practice. It’s a chance for them to remember who they are and why they’re here, he added. NathanPulliam and McCready laid seeds of change, Jarrell said, to help nursing get where it is today.

“But we also need to get where we need to go tomorrow. And I’m happy to tell all of you here what a terrific job our School of Nursing has done to get nurses out there and working,” he added.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted just how important nurses are in health care, Jarrell said, but also shined a light on how difficult the workplace had become for nurses and how hard it was to deliver care. UMSON has been focused on addressing this issue, he added, with a class of more than 700 students set to graduate this spring.

“And among them, just like our two honorees, some of these nurses will deliver primary care throughout Maryland. This is a nursing school that is committed to Maryland,” Jarrell said.

Just like Nathan-Pulliam and McCready, the nurses who come through the School can bring change to Maryland and beyond.

Both Nathan-Pulliam and McCready accomplished journeys that may have seemed impossible in their generations, Ogbolu said.

“They did their part. They left their mark – in fact, they left their names on the building. They showed us how to act with boldness, with compassion, with faith, and hope as an action word. Now it’s up to us,” she said. “So, I leave you with a question. What will you do to continue the journey? Let’s all go forth, to water the seeds of change that they have planted so that everyone has an opportunity to grow and flourish. Let’s move with boldness and with grace to advance social and racial equity.”