About the School

History

For more than 80 years, the University of Washington has been training nurses and breaking new ground in the nursing profession. UW President Henry Suzzallo introduced the first course in 1918: a summer class about public health nursing. Four years later, Seattle-area nurse Elizabeth Sterling Soule led the establishment of the Department of Nursing, which was among the first to be accredited by the National Organization of Public Health Nurses. In 1923, the department began offering a bachelor of science in nursing degree. In less than ten years, all nursing faculty were required to hold master's degrees.

The School of Nursing became an independent school within the UW health sciences department in 1945. It was the first nursing school on the West Coast and only the second university-affiliated nursing school in the U.S. Elizabeth Sterling Soule was its first dean. When she retired in 1950, Time magazine called her the “Mother of Nursing” in the Pacific Northwest. She was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 1986.

Today, our tradition of excellence continues. Ever since 1984, when the publication Nursing Outlook conducted the first nationwide survey of nursing schools, the UW School of Nursing has been ranked number one in the country. It consistently receives more grants for nursing research than any other nursing school, and 99 percent of tenured faculty members hold Ph.D. degrees.

For more about the school's history, see:

A feature story about the first dean: Elizabeth Sterling Soule.
A 1946 training video called “Mrs. Reynolds Needs a Nurse.”
(NOTE - You must have the Flash 4 plug-in to view the timeline.)
An illustrated history of the school's last 100 years.
Winter 1999 Connections: An in-depth exploration of the school's history
Short video interviews with seven former deans.