School of Nursing History

The nursing program at Purdue University began in fall 1963. Thirty nursing students were admitted to a two-year associate degree program on the West Lafayette campus.

Helen R. Johnson, a registered nurse with a strong administrative background, initiated and directed the program. In 1970, an upper-division, four-year baccalaureate program was introduced to fulfill the career mobility needs of associate-degree or diploma nurses who wished to earn baccalaureate degrees.

Initially, the nursing program was administered through the Department of Applied and General Studies in the Division of Applied Technology.

Recognizing the strong academic program of professional preparation and the growing number of nursing students, the Board of Trustees created the School of Nursing in 1979. The School was placed into the newly created administrative unit, the Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences. In 2004 this was renamed to the College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences.

The growth in enrollment in the nursing program has been rapid. Today, over 500 undergraduate students are enrolled on the West Lafayette campus. In addition, about 25 students are enrolled in the graduate program at West Lafayette and the Calumet/West Lafayette Graduate Nursing Consortium.

Johnson Hall of Nursing houses classrooms, conference rooms, administrative and faculty offices, the Center for Nursing Education, and the Center for Nursing History, Ethics, and Human Rights. The Nursing Center for Family Health provides student learning experiences in health screening, counseling, health promotion, and client education. Students are also afforded opportunities to interact with a diverse, rural community through the Family Health Clinic of Carroll County in Delphi, Indiana.

From this site you can access two videos about the Purdue School of Nursing. Both are about 20 minutes long. The first is a memorial tribute to Helen R. Johnson, which tells of this legendary leader's role in the development of nursing education at Purdue University. The second, first seen at the Ruby Jubilee Celebration in April 2003, is a history of the first 40 years of Purdue Nursing and a look into the future.

You will need a copy of RealPlayer to see these videos. If you have RealPlayer installed, simply click on the start control (the small triangle: ) to watch the video.
 



Helen R. Johnson Tribute
 



Ruby Jubilee Celebration