University of Michigan School of Nursing

The University of Michigan School of Nursing is the nursing school of the University of Michigan, and is located in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

First opened as the University of Michigan Training School for Nurses in 1891, the school offered a two-year curriculum. The first nursing degree program for nursing students was inaugurated in 1919. In 1975, the School of Nursing became one of the first nursing school in the United States to offer a research-based Doctorate of Philosophy in nursing.

History
In 1891, the University of Michigan Training School for Nurses established in response to a growing need for professional nurses. The school was organized under the auspices of the Medical School in conjunction with the new University Hospital located on Catherine Street in Ann Arbor. Six students were admitted in the first year of the two-year program.

The Regents extended the school from a two-year program to a three-year diploma program in 1902. 130 students were enrolled and the first full-time instructor was appointed in 1915. Admission to the school needed a four-year high school diploma.

The first nursing degree program for nursing students was inaugurated in 1919 and consisted of a five-year combined course in nursing and letters.

In 1941, the Board of Regents created the faculty of the School of Nursing and named Rhoda Reddig Russell, the director, a professor. There were 12 instructors and one assistant professor on the faculty. Russell was appointed as the first dean of the school in 1955. Until then, the school operated under the direction of an administrative committee including the hospital and medical school.

The school offered its first master's program in psychiatric nursing in the fall of 1961. A Master of Science program in medical-surgical nursing was established in 1962. In 1963, the National League for Nursing granted full accreditation to the four-year bachelor program. At this point, the master's programs in medical-surgical and psychiatric nursing were also fully accredited. In 1975, the school added a research-based Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in nursing to its list of degree offerings.