Research Centers - University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

“The supreme purpose of
history is a better world.”
Herbert Hoover,
31st President of the United States
had her research on women, nursing, and
baccalaureate education throughout the
20th century cited by the New York State
Nurses Association to support the proposed
bill to mandate a baccalaureate degree for
all nurses within 10 years of their graduation
from associate degree or diploma programs.
Post-doctoral fellow Joy Buck’s work on
the history and policy implications of the
hospice movement is the foundation for
several federal and state policy initiatives.
“Because of our relevance to a
variety of fields, we can seek support
from sources that might not necessarily
support what is perceived as strictly nursing
funding,” says Dr. Fairman. “Our researchers
are helping to formulate new ways of
providing care to vulnerable populations and
studying the contemporary nursing shortage
and the value of baccalaureate nursing
education as the entry to practice level.
Having the History Center and its extensive
collections in the same building allows
our faculty to quickly obtain important
background information for their projects.”
When the renovations to Claire M.
Fagin Hall are completed in 2008, the History
Center will have a larger and more secure
space for its collections and activities, as well
as enhanced storage areas, a new reading
room, more workspace for the Center’s
archivist, student work areas, and offices for
a post-doc and adjunct faculty.
“Our researchers are funded by the
National Library of Medicine, the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation, the Mellon
Foundation, the National Institutes of
Health, and the National Endowment for
the Humanities. Our challenges, however,
are to continue to make our work relevant
to fields other than health sciences for more
funding opportunities. We also need to grow
the endowment to provide for a full-time
archivist for our ever-growing collections, to
increase our student and faculty scholarship
pool, and to build a Center website that
will interface with the NIH-funded website
initiative.”
Modern communications
for nursing’s past
Dr. Buhler-Wilkerson and Jean
Whelan, GR ’00, GR ’02, PhD, RN,
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Nursing,
are currently working on a National
Library of Medicine-funded project
to develop a website focusing on
nursing, history, and healthcare to
“make the profession more visible to
the public and to ensure an accurate
documentation of nursing’s past,” says
Dr. Whelan.
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing
Established: 1985
Director: Julie A. Fairman, PhD, RN, FAAN
Associate Directors: Patricia D’Antonio, PhD, RN, FAAN; Barbra Mann Wall, PhD, RN
Directors Emeritas: Karen Buhler-Wilkerson, PhD, RN, FAAN; Joan Lynaugh, PhD, RN, FAAN
Seminar Coordinator: Jean Whelan, PhD, RN
Post-doctoral fellows (since 2002): 11
Current active awards: Nine
Current fellowships: Two
Fiscal Year 2007 funding: $163,595
The Center is also the home of
the Nursing History Review, the
official publication of the American
Association for the History of Nursing
Influencing Policy, edited by Dr.
D’Antonio. Dr. Mann Wall is the
publication’s book editor.
september 2007 | 7