Johnson, Helen R., 1914-2001
Person
Dates
- Existence: November 15, 1914 - August 30, 2001
Biographical Information
Helen Johnson came to Purdue in 1962 to spearhead Purdue's first nursing program. In her first year at Purdue, she was able to secure outside funding, hire faculty, arrange sites for clinicals, develop a curriculum, and secure state approval for the new program. Over the next three years, she initiated nursing programs on all of Purdue's regional campuses. By 1969, the programs had become accredited by the National League of Nursing and each had graduating classes. Johnson spent the next 18 years at Purdue continually improving upon the program which she had started. One of her most significant achievements involved obtaining a $1.3 million grant from the United States Public Health Service which funded construction of a new nursing building on the West Lafayette campus. This achievement eventually led to the department's formation into its own school with a separate operating budget. Her strong desire for the nursing school to develop a master's degree program propelled her to earn a doctorate in higher education in 1975. In 1979, Johnson was named head of the School of Nursing. She retired in 1980.
Citation
Purdue Nurse. (2002, February). Purdue University School of Nursing. Retrieved from: https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/nur/media/documents/spring2002.pdfFound in 1 Collection or Record:
Purdue University School of Nursing records
Unprocessed — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 20170616.2
Dates:
1960 - 2017