#40121 RECORDS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF/CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING in the University Archives and Records Service University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Wilson Library, CB# 3926 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514-8890 August 1992 By action of the Board of Trustees on June 7, 1940, the Division of Public Health, since 1936 a part of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, became the separate School of Public Health under the direction of Milton J. Rosenau. Among the new School's early research projects was a venereal disease study that focused on outreach programs in the Orange-Person-Chatham County and Durham City-County Health Departments. The study made clear the need for more university-educated public health nurses to serve North Carolina communities. While public health nurses had traditionally been excluded from schools of public health, Dr. Rosenau expressed interest in establishing a program, stating "we believe that training for public health nursing should be an integral part of a School of Public Health and with our set up we have an opportunity to establish this useful enterprise on a plane that will be without peer anywhere." In 1940 the addition of faculty and funding from the North Carolina State Board of Health, the U.S. Public Health Service, and the Children's Bureau for Cooperation made the Department of Public Health Nursing possible. Ruth Warwick Hay, a national leader in public health nursing education, was hired as the first head of the Department. On her recommendation, the Department added Margaret Blee, a colleague of Hay's from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1946 the Department of Public Health Nursing began its tradition of training public health nurses outside the Chapel Hill campus by instituting a cooperative program with North Carolina College at Durham (now North Carolina Central University). This effort was undertaken due to increased awareness of the need for health personnel in Southern black communities following World War II. Professors Hay and Blee were consultants to the program from 1946 through 1956, and UNC-CH professors continued to teach public health nursing courses at North Carolina College until 1963. In 1950 the School of Nursing was formed, leading some to question the desirability of specialized nursing training on the baccalaureate level and to suggest the elimination of the undergraduate program in public health nursing. The Department stopped accepting undergraduates in 1962. The graduate program offered a Master of Public Health degree, with a concentration in either Management and Supervision or Occupational Health Nursing, and a Master of Science degree in the Public Health Nursing or Occupational Health Nursing fields. The M.P.H. degree was intended to lead to nursing practice in the health community while the M.S. degree was designed to prepare its students for academic pursuits. Despite occasional conflicts, the Department of Public Health Nursing and the School of Nursing enjoyed a collaborative relationship throughout much of their history. In 1963 the faculties cooperated to create a program that prepared teachers in public health nursing. A joint committee designed the curriculum and coordinated its implementation. The first director of the program was Margaret Shetland, who was succeeded by Marie McIntyre. In 1970 the Department's independence was again brought into question by a self-study report of the School of Public Health. The report resulted in the recommendation that the departments of Health Administration, Health Education, Maternal and Child Health, Mental Health, Public Health Nursing, and Public Health Nutrition be combined in a comprehensive family health division. It was hoped that such a reorganization would break down some of the departmental rigidity that was perceived throughout the School. This recommendation, while discussed at length, was not followed due to administrative difficulties and objections from a number of the departments. Until the mid-1960s, the mainstay of the Department of Public Health Nursing had been its undergraduate and certification programs. In the 1970s the faculty made an effort to adjust to its new graduate focus. Graduate faculty members were added and the research programs of the department were expanded. In 1982 Michel Ibrahim became Dean of the School of Public Health. Almost immediately he recommended that the Public Health Nursing Department be dismantled, citing limited resources and the need to maintain and expand graduate programs. Dean Ibrahim appointed the Committee to Consider Alternatives for the Education of Public Health Nurses in the School of Public Health, which discussed several options, including the absorption of the Department by the School of Nursing or by one of the departments of the School of Public Health. Ultimately the Committee recommended an interdisciplinary program that would maintain a strong faculty and be under the directorship of a qualified nurse who would report directly to the Dean. It also recommended the establishment of a committee representative of all public health interests to study the development of doctoral programs in the School. This proposed dismantling of the Department caused a good deal of public furor. The Public Health Nurses Association and the North Carolina Nurses Association adamantly opposed it; and in July, 1983, members of the Women's Caucus of the North Carolina General Assembly introduced a bill, putting the restructuring of the Department of Public Health Nursing on hold. But, by the fall of 1984, this opposition had been overcome and the changes to the program were approved. The Department then became the Curriculum in Public Health Nursing within the School of Public Health. The new organization created a graduate program offering a Master's in Occupational Health Nursing or in Public Health Nursing with tracks in either Administration and Supervision or Teaching. The faculty of the curriculum hold joint appointments with other School of Public Health departments and the chair reports to the Dean of the School. A list of Department/Curriculum heads and their tenures follows: Ruth W. Hay Department Chair 1940-1959 Margaret Dolan Department Chair 1959-1972 Virginia Nelson Department Chair 1972-1974 (Acting) Dorothy Talbot Department Chair 1974-1984 Marion Highriter Curriculum Chair 1984-1985 (Acting) Marla E. Salmon Curriculum Chair 1986-1991 Rachel H. Stevens Curriculum Chair 1991- For additional information on the histories of the School of Public Health and the Department of Public Health Nursing, Dreaming of a Time by Robert Rodgers Korstad and A History of the Department of Public Health Nursing, 1941-1950 by Elizabeth Dianne Greenhill are available in the North Carolina Collection. The archival records of the Department of (Curriculum in) Public Health Nursing are arranged in three subgroups. A detailed inventory of the records follows. See also: HEALTH AFFAIRS: Vice Chancellor's Records, Subgroup 1 Series 10 Contracts, Public Health Nursing HEALTH AFFAIRS: Vice Chancellor's Records, Subgroup 7 Series 9 Public Health Nursing HEALTH AFFAIRS: School of Public Health, Subgroup 14, Public Health Nursing Curriculum SUBGROUP 1: ADMINISTRATION This subgroup contains the records of chairs of the Department and directors of the Curriculum. These files include extensive information on the founding of the Department and on its change to curriculum status in 1982. Also included are faculty meeting minutes, correspondence with the School of Public Health, and other administrative materials. Box 1: Accreditation (See Correspondence, Administrative) Correspondence, Administrative, 1940-1942; 1945; 1949-1954; 1958; 1960; 1962; 1965-1972; 1974-1981 (includes material on the founding of the department) Departmental Faculty Meeting Minutes, 1975-1981 (includes minutes and reports of faculty committees with the exception of the Curriculum Committee which appears in Subgroup 2) Entrance and Exit Behaviors, Subcommittee on, 1980; 1982; 1985 Faculty Retreats, 1977; 1980-1982 Financial Aid, 1975 History, 1948; 1960; 1963; 1971 Odum Village Health Service, 1974-1976 Restructuring: Ad Hoc Committee to Consider Alternatives for the Education of Public Health Nurses in the School of Public Health UNC-CH: Material collected by, 1983 Report of the North Carolina Conference of Public Health Nursing Supervisors, Directors, and Consultants to, April 22, 1983 (See also Subgroup 3) Report to the Dean, May 9, 1983 Correspondence, 1982-1983 Joint Committee on Planning a Curriculum for the Preparation of Teachers in Public Health Nursing (See Subgroup 2) Retirement Banquet for Professors Blee and Hay (June 1, 1962), 1962 (includes some historical photographs collected for the occasion) Box 2: School of Public Health: Dean's Cabinet Meeting Minutes and Attachments, 1975-1980 Dean's Retreats, 1975-1980 General Faculty Meeting Minutes, 1977-1981; 1983-1986 Speeches: Hay, Ruth, 1949-1950; 1955 Student Affairs, 1975-1978; 1982-1983 SUBGROUP 2: CURRICULUM This subgroup contains records pertaining to the planning and implementation of the Public Health Nursing curriculum. The files include minutes of the Curriculum Committee, information on cooperative teaching efforts with the School of Nursing, and the syllabi and bibliographies for specific Public Health Nursing (PHNU) courses. Box 3: Area Health Education Centers Placements, 1976-1980 Correspondence, Administrative, 1962; 1977-1980 Curriculum Descriptions, 1951; 1958; 1961-1962; 1975; 1977; 1983; 1985-1986 Faculty Curriculum Committee Meeting Minutes, 1976-1977 Family Nurse Practitioner Program: General, 1974-1975; 1978-1979; 1981; 1983 National Conference, 1974-1975 Policy Board, 1974-1980; 1982-1983 Geriatric Nurse Practitioner Program, 1976 Joint Committee on Planning a Curriculum for the Preparation of Teachers in Public Health Nursing, 1962-1965 Occupational Health Nurse Practitioner Program, 1976-1981 Occupational Health Nursing Program, 1970-1973; 1975-1979 Off Campus Graduate Degree Program, 1975; 1978; 1980 PHNU 101: Aging and Human Development, 1978; 1980 PHNU 141: Readings in Public Health Nursing, 1975-1976 PHNU 160: Delivery of Community Nursing Services, 1980 PHNU 180: Readings in Occupational Health Nursing, 1971 PHNU 181: Occupational Health Nursing I, 1971 PHNU 193: Innovation and Change in Public Health Nursing, 1977 PHNU 197: Public Health Nursing Supervision, 1976-1977; undated PHNU 202: Foundations for Mental Health Practice, 1975-1977; undated PHNU 215: Child Health Assessment and Care, 1978 PHNU 240: Seminar in Nursing Research and Practice, 1976 PHNU 255: Consultation, 1978 PHNU 261: Community Health Nursing Administration, 1978-1979 PHNU 262: Community Health Nursing Administration II, 1980 PHNU 271: Instructional Approaches in Public Health Nursing, 1979 PHNU 272: Instructional Approaches in Public Health Nursing, 1976; 1979 PHNU 281: Occupational Health Nursing II, 1979-1980 PHNU 282: Problems in Occupational Health Nursing, 1971 PHNU 290: Public Health Nursing Services, 1975; 1977 PHNU 291: Planning Community Nursing Services, 1974; 1977 PHNU 296: Advanced Practice in Public Health Nursing, 1977-1978; undated PHNU 297: Philosophy and Principles in Supervision, 1978 PHNU 298: Community Health Nursing Administration II, 1978 PHNU 299: Research Methods in Public Health Nursing, 1973; 1976; 1978-1980 PHNU 300: Seminar in Public Health Nursing, 1976; 1978-1979 PHNU 381: Advanced Practice in Public Health Nursing, 1971 SUBGROUP 3: OUTSIDE ORGANIZATIONS This subgroup contains the department/curriculum's correspondence with various organizations external to the University. The majority of this material deals with the organizations' training programs, conferences, workshops, and consultations that members of the Public Health Nursing faculty planned, conducted, or attended. Box 4: American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 1976; 1978 Chi Eta Phi: Workshop, 1977-1978 Duke University Summer Institute of Alcohol Studies: Workshop, 1977-1979 Home Health Agency of Chapel Hill, 1974-1976; 1980 Hospice of North Carolina, 1977-1979 National Black Nurses Association, 1975; 1977-1978; 1980 National Center for Alcohol Education, 1976-1978; 1980; 1982 National League for Nursing, 1976; 1978-1979 North Carolina Conference of Public Health Nursing Supervisors, Directors, and Consultants, 1983 (See also Restructuring in Subgroup 1: Administration) North Carolina Nurses Association, 1980 Palm Beach County Health Department, 1975; 1977 Southern Health Foundation, 1975; 1981-1983 United Cerebral Palsy of North Carolina, Inc., 1976-1977 U.S. Army Nurse Corps: Correspondence and General, 1976-1984 Manuals, 1972; 1975; 1979-1980 Veteran's Administration, 1976-1980 World Health Organization, 1959-1962; 1965