Through the Years

1984

  • Colleen Conway named Dean
  • VUSN organizationally moves to the Medical Center
  • Julia Hereford Society established
  • Positions of associate deans for Academics, Research and Practice established

 

1985

  • BSN degree begins phase-out
  • Joint Center for Nursing Research opens
  • Gov. Lamar Alexander appoints Conway-Welch to Tennessee State Board of Nursing

 

1986

  • Pre-Specialty Bridge-to-MSN introduced; graduates receive the master’s degree as first professional degree
  • MSN curriculum refines to 39 semester hours

 

1987

  • Senior-Year-in-Absentia program begins with undergraduate liberal arts institutions.

 

1988

  • First Pre-Specialty to MSN class graduates
  • President Reagan appoints Conway-Welch to National Commission on the HIV Epidemic

 

1989

  • Last BSN degrees awarded
  • Joint MSN/MBA program begins with Owen School of Management
  • $1 million donated to endow the Independence Foundation Chair for Nursing Education

 

1990

  • Vine Hill inner city primary care clinic opens
  • Rural primary care clinic opens in Stanton, Tenn.
  • Julia Eleanor Blair Chenault Chair in Nursing created
  • National League of Nursing grants full eight-year reaccreditation to Pre-Specialty (bridge) and MSN program

 

1991

  • First Biomedical Research Support Grant received by Judy Ozbolt

 

1992

  • First MSN/MBA student, Anna Chalfant O’Neal, graduates
  • Conway-Welch joins the Healthcare Leadership Council Board of Trust
  • Hearst Foundation commits $100,000 to endow a minority scholarship fund
  • VUSN receives $150,000 from DHHS Division of Nursing to initiate PhD program

 

1993

  • PhD program admits first class
  • Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation awards first student nursing scholarship

 

1994

  • Nurse-Midwifery program receives $100,000 grant to establish women’s health practice with support from Gov. Ned McWherter

 

1995

  • Patricia and Tommy Frist give funding to build Patricia Champion Frist Hall
  • Fall Hamilton school-based clinic opens

 

1997

  • Patricia Champion Frist Hall completed
  • Conway-Welch named to Institute of Medicine of the National Academy
    of Sciences
  • First PhD student, Kuei-Ru Chau, graduates
  • VUSN becomes only school approved by the Pentagon for Air Force Academy graduates to earn MSN degree
  • VUSN enters field of distance education with synchronous and asynchronous learning methods

 

1998

  • House Speaker Newt Gingrich appoints Conway-Welch to National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare

 

1999

  • Pre-Specialty (bridge) and MSN program receive eight-year accreditation from National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission
  • East End Women’s Health and Birthing Center opens in East Nashville

 

2000

  • VUSN sponsors International Nursing Coalition for Mass Casualty Education
  • Betsy Weiner, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN, named to the newly established position of Senior Associate Dean for Educational Informatics
  • VUSN receives Division of Nursing five-year grant to expand community primary care clinics

 

2001

  • Nancy and Hilliard Travis endow the Nancy and Hilliard Travis Professor of Nursing Chair; Conway-Welch named to chair

 

2002

  • National Center for Emergency Preparedness established
  • The National Institutes of Health/National Center for Research Resources awards $1.3 million to renovate Godchaux Hall

 

2003

  • Vanderbilt ranks 12th among private Schools of Nursing in NIH funding
  • First employer-based, nurse-practitioner-run primary care clinic opens at Sanford Corporation in Lewisburg, Tenn.
  • West End Women’s Health Center opens with nurse-midwifery practitioners

 

2004

  • VUSN partners with Fisk and Lipscomb Universities to offer pre-specialty nursing curriculum leading to a undergraduate degree given by their home school
  • Postdoctoral program begins

 

2005

  • Frist Nursing Informatics Center opens in Frist Hall
  • VUSN receives federal grant to establish a local Medical Reserve Corps
  • Faculty Practice begins “Vandy Calls” for nurse practitioner house calls to frail elderly
  • Two primary care clinics open at employer sites at Maryville and Dickson, Tenn.
  • Martha Rivers Ingram Chair in Nursing created

 

2006

  • Godchaux Hall completes renovation
  • President George W. Bush appoints Conway-Welch to Board of Regents position of the Federal Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
  • Bonnie Pilon receives grant to expand house calls program across Davidson and Wilson counties
  • VUSN addresses nursing faculty shortage by offering a PhD in Nursing Science through distance learning format

 

2007

  • VUSN ranked 19th in top nursing schools by U.S. News and World Report
  • Nursing Annex renovation completed
  • Vine Hill Community Clinic becomes a Federally Qualified Health Care Center
  • Vine Hill Clinic doubles in size to serve additional populations

 

2008

  • VUSN celebrates its Centennial
  • Doctor of Nursing Practice Program begins
  • VUSN receives full eight-year re-accreditation for the MSN program from National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission

 

2009

  • Modern Healthcare names Conway-Welch to Top 25 Women in Healthcare
  • Distance Learning extended to virtual reality environment of Second Life through $1.6 million HRSA grant
  • Betsy Weiner receives $1.3 million from HRSA to deliver faculty development in informatics, simulation and telehealth

 

2010

  • First class of DNP students graduate
  • VUSN receives Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation grant for Vanderbilt Program in Interprofessional Learning
  • Nursing Clinical Simulation Skills Lab becomes Laerdal Medical Corp. Center of Educational Excellence

 

2011

  • VUSN partners with the School of Medicine and Peabody College of Education and Human Development to offer a new Master’s degree in Health Professions Education

 

2012

  • U.S. News and World Report ranks VUSN 15th in graduate nursing school rankings
  • VUSN opens faculty practice at the Clinic at Mercury Courts, serving homeless and people with transitional housing
  • VUSN achieves landmark of 1,100 enrolled students

 

 

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