Record Accession Number: 1328
First UVA program NURS Second UVA program
Comments on UVA programs
Home town Lynchburg Home state VA
Comments on Home town and state
Home town classification Small city
Comments on Home town classification
High school classification Public
Comments on High school classification
Was your high school co-ed? Yes
Comments on Co-ed high school
Did you come directly from high school to UVA? Yes
Comments if not directly from high school
Important activities before coming to UVA
Comments on important activities Reading, school-related activities.
If married, was it before, during, or after UVA? During
Comments on time of marriage
Was your spouse associated with UVA? Student
Comments on spouses association with UVA
Mother's first degree Mother's first college
Mother's second college Mother's second degree
Mother's third college Mother's third degree
Father's first degree Father's first college
Father's second college Father's second degree
Father's third school Father's third degree
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First sister's level of schooling Second sister's level of schooling
Third sister's level of schooling First brother's level of schooling
Second brother's level of schooling Third brother's level of schooling
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Family members at UVA
Comments on family members at UVA
Mother's first occupation Mother's second occupation
Mother's third occupation Father's first occupation
Father's second occupation Father's third occupation
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Date entered UVA Date left UVA
First other college First other concentration
First other degree First other dates of attendance
Second other college Second other concentration
Second other degree Second other dates of attendance
Third other college Third other concentration
Third other degree Third other dates of attendance
Fourth other college Fourth other concentration
Fourth other degree Fourth other dates of attendance
Fifth other college Fifth other concentration
Fifth other degree Fifth other dates of attendance
Comments on college experiences
Why did you choose UVA?
Comments on choice to attend UVA Best nursing education that I knew to be accessible to me and could afford.
How did you finance UVA?
Comments on financing Scholarships, worked as undergraduate nurse.
Why did you choose your UVA concentration(s)?
Comments on choice of concentration At age 4 near the end of WWII, radio recruiting by U.S. Government - "Uncle Sam Needs Nurses," inspired me to want to be a nurse. As I grew up the idealism and practicality of nursing continued to intrigue me.
Description of UVA classroom experiences
Comments on classroom experiences Principle-based learning predominated and was a good fit with my philosophy of education.
Description of UVA professor interactions
Comments on professor interactions As I recall, many of the (all) women instructors were personally supportive. Classes were generally interesting and highly applicable to the practice of nursing, from both a principle and applied perspective.
Who impacted your life at UVA?
Comments on life impact Thomas Jefferson - role model for thought and knowledge as a basis for life. I chose to believe that the "all people are created equal" applied to women and nursing students, in the face of evidence to the contrary within the University of Virginia milieu. Women were tolerated, at best, nursing was definitely viewed as an inferior "class" and discipline.
Most memorable UVA educational experience
Comments on memorable educational experience I was a diploma nursing student. At the time I was in school, diploma students carried tremendous loads of responsibility, often being the only nurse on an evening or night shift on patient care units with a census of 40 patients, most of whom were tertiary card patients. The rigorous classroom and clinical instruction and expectations made the ability to carry out these responsibilities successfully possible!
UVA weekend activities
Comments on weekend activities Generally on duty in the hospital, dating, fraternity parties, studying, trips to D.C.
UVA extra-curricular organizations
Comments on extra-curricular organizations Diploma students were ineligible for most extra-curricular organizations. My class, including myself, were active and instrumental in forcing rule changes which resulted in female student (there were no male nursing students) nurses having the personal autonomy which was taken for granted and institutionalized for male students.
Important local, state, national, and international issues while at UVA
Comments on important issues In the late '50s, U.Va. students reveled in their apathy. On the national basis, I was interested in the election of John Kennedy, in the break-down of colonialism and "freeing" of Africa, civil rights.
How interest in issues was expressed
Comments on how interest was expressed Very little. Was too young to vote (less than 21, the legal voting age). Diploma students were in class or the hospital for 44 hours/week at the time.
UVA housing
Comments on housing dorm
Likes and dislikes about housing
Comments on likes and dislikes All nursing students lived in McKim Hall when I was a student. This provided a sense of support and community within the larger, less welcoming, community.
Where were meals eaten
Comments on meal location hospital cafeteria
Did you interact outside of UVA?
Interaction detail
Memories of Charlottesville
Comments on Charlottesville memories Its beauty and sense of history.
Did you feel part of UVA community? Did you feel part of community?
Incidents that caused these community feelings Yes and primarily no. 1. Diploma students were not eligible for the few sororities. 2. Socially, as a group, the male University students, often expressed their superiority to nursing students. 3. The above was also true academically.
Vivid UVA memories
Comments on vivid memories
Did marital status affect UVA experiences
Comments on influence of marital status I married in my senior year. I received an evaluation of my clinical performance on a particular unit on which my maiden name with an "A" grade was crossed out and replaced by my married name with a "C+" grade.
Did cultural background affect UVA experiences
Comments on influence of cultural background When I matriculated, all nursing students were white females. I have written above how the "cultural identity" of being a diploma nursing student within the larger, grander University had an impact.
Did UVA prepare you for post-UVA life?
Comments on preparedness Very much so. My first professional job, immediately upon graduation, was as a head nurse. U.Va. Nursing graduates were highly regarded by hospitals, who were then the nearly exclusive employers of nurses. I found the academic and clincal experience was a tremendous foundation. Again, especially because we were expected to apply principles rather than be passive.
Most significant post-UVA events
Comments on most significant event 39 year marriage to an academic, deeply gratifying experience as a mother of 4 children. Involvement in anti-Vietnam was awakening. Working as head nurse in the "colored unit" of a county hospital in South Carolina. The mental illness which has affected my youngest child's life.
Personal factors that affected professional life
Comments on personal factors The need to work full-time to help support my husband's Ph.D. pursuit and our four children probably caused me to work in nursing more than I might otherwise have done. The need to earn money to support our children through their degrees caused me to give up on the complexities of obtaining a B.S. in Nursing and gain admission (without a Bachelor's degree) to the University of Chicago, where I obtained my M.B.A. and very significantly increase my income as a result of the M.B.A.
Other factors affecting life after the university
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First post-UVA job First job dates
Second post-UVA job Second job dates
Third post-UVA job Third job dates
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First post-UVA volunteer position First volunteer dates
Second post-UVA volunteer position Second volunteer dates
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Comments on volunteering
Do you think of yourself as a career woman?
Comments on career woman question
Barriers faced in work and volunteering
Comments on barriers question Being a woman, a mother, and a nurse in a period when all were viewed as subsidiary positions. My professional life has spanned the entry and rapid (historically), but difficult and necessary evolvement of women in the professional business worlds.
Current marital status
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Current age range
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Number of children
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Current employment status
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Additional comments I have always been grateful for the quality of the education which I received at the University of Virginia School of Nursing. The clinical experience was often frightening as student nurses were the primary source of nursing staffing for the evening and night shifts in the very demanding medical center environment. The supervisors on these shifts were, as a rule, fantastic. As a 17-18-19 year old, shy young Southern woman, the responsibility for the lives of so many patients was daunting. Those of us who graduated had every right to be proud and, I think, were. At the same time that we had this awesome responsibility, we were often treated/viewed as second class, not quite citizens of the University. My now husband was among the majority of "fraternity men," and I think male students in general, who tolerated nursing students, but deeply believed and expostulated, that the University's ability and status would fall sharply if the University became co-educational. He is now very verbal on how wrong he was and how clearly the University has improved academically since the integration of women into the University. This discrimination had two effects upon me. On the one hand, one had no choice but to push against it and do what one cared to change it. This helped prepare me for the same struggle in the business world in later years. On the other hand, it did have a negative effect on self-esteem. The "Superiority" of the male mind was institutionalized at U.Va. at the time and formed a paradigm that was destructive to us as women of the time.

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