SON Home | UW Home | MyUW | UW Bothell | UW Tacoma | HealthLinks | Contact the School | Search SON | Internal A 50-year reunion for the class of ’49 Class of 1949, Harborview Division In July, 17 members of the class of ’49 met at Harborview Hall, where they had lived together on the fourth and ninth floors while undergraduate nursing students. With their spouses and families, they again walked the tunnel connecting the dormitory to the present-day Harborview Medical Center and toured the many updated facilities. At a dinner that evening attended by Dean Nancy Woods, classmates shared their experiences over the last fifty years, many of these in community health nursing. At a time when higher education for women was far from the norm, over half of the graduates of ’49 completed master’s degrees. Betty Olmstead Wigen ’49, Left, with Mabel Reitz Barker, ‘49, ’60 MN during a recent interview. Reunion organizer Mabel Reitz Barker and class historian Betty Olmstead Wigen later shared more of their experiences as young nursing students. They recalled attending classes in the "anatomy shack" and a refurbished campus infirmary, now Guthrie Hall. Their advisor was Katherine Hoffman, a "neat lady," and their instructors included Lillian Patterson, Mary Tschudin and Florence Gray. Supervisors at Harborview taught other courses. Nursing students did clinical work at the hospital and the funds earned went toward nursing education. Most students entered the program right out of high school, the two recalled. After completing six quarters of university coursework and three months of pre-clinical experience, students were "capped" and moved into dorms at either Harborview or Swedish Hospital to complete ten quarters of clinical instruction. (Virginia Mason Hospital joined the University program in 1952.) Except for some changes in curriculum, this was the basic nursing program from 1931-1958. Because of the depression-related slump in the job market, only unmarried students or married women who were sole providers were admitted. Housemother Edna Hoffine enforced a strict curfew and "late-comers" circumvented her watchful eye by entering through the hospital tunnel. The students produced a bi-weekly "scandal sheet," the "Chronic Complainer," as well as a yearbook, "The Capsule." The recollections of Barker and Wigen were used in compiling the accompanying table. BSN Class of ’99 Six male students Average age 27 Twenty minority students (28%) One international student A mixture of married and single students Students with prior degrees: 26 Mean Grade Point Average: 3.5 All courses taught at UW Rotating clinicals at local hospitals and other health care sites Students live on UW campus or nearby No curfew School has 130 faculty members, 40 lecturers, and 550 clinical faculty 99% of tenured faculty have doctoral degrees COMPARE BSN Class of ’49 No male students Average age 18-20 Number of minority students not known No international students No known married students No known former degrees by students Grade Point Average "pretty average" Nursing courses taught at Swedish or Harborview Students live at Swedish or Harborview Curfew is 7:30 pm weeknights for new students School has 50 faculty members and 60 lecturers. All faculty have master’s degrees Return to Winter 1999 Headlines   Copyright © 2008 University of Washington 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, Washington 98195