Volume 78/Number 4
Fall 1998
Tennessee Alumnus
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William McKinley was president and a glimpse of stocking was more than shocking when the colleges of Nursing and Pharmacy were born a century ago.
Pharmacy Ranks Seventh NationallyThe College of Pharmacy, long a part of the UT health sciences campus at Memphis, actually had its beginnings in Knoxville. The first UT pharmacy courses were offered in the chemistry department at Knoxville in 1898. By 1910 only six students were enrolled in pharmacy courses, and the Board of Trustees terminated the program.
The work of the pharmacy department was moved to Memphis under the auspices of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and, in 1911, became part of the UT campus at Memphis. Tuition for a year was about $100. Six men graduated in 1912, and the first woman graduated two years later.
Until 1926, the dean of the College of Medicine functioned as the pharmacy dean. That year the Board of Trustees appointed Andrew Richard Bliss Jr. as the first dean of the School of Pharmacy. Growth was slow but steady: the number of faculty increased from 11 in 1911 to 30 in 1931.
Dr. Robert Crowe followed Bliss as dean, and it was under his administration that the school grew to become a national leader. He began courses to meet the needs of the profession and the community, and in 1948, the school received a Class A rating from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Education. Crowe, who was known throughout Tennessee, died in 1953 and was replaced by Karl John Goldner, who served until 1959.
His successor was Seldon Feurt, who began a new era in the development of pharmacy, starting with a new name. The School of Pharmacy became the College of Pharmacy, consistent with the colleges of medicine and dentistry. Feurt brought acclaimed teachers, scientists, and researchers to UT, increasing the number of faculty to 60.
A graduate program in the pharmaceutical sciences began in 1963, and physical facilities grew. Under Feurt's leadership, the UT College of Pharmacy became the largest in the South and one of the five largest in the nation. Feurt began the doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree program at UT in 1968.
Feurt died in 1975, and Dr. John Autian became dean. He established the Materials Science Toxicology Laboratories, which achieved national and international prominence and helped establish new FDA regulations on medical devices. When Autian took a new position in 1982, Dr. Michael Ryan followed him as dean.
One of Ryan's strengths was enhancing relationships between the college and practitioners throughout Tennessee. This led to approval of the Pharm.D. as the entry-level and only degree offered by the college. Research continued to grow under Ryan, as did gifts to enhance the college's programs.
Alumnus Dick Gourley succeeded Ryan in 1989 and continues to serve. In 1993, U.S. News and World Report ranked the college number eight in the nation among schools granting the Pharm.D. degree. UT held steady at number eight until moving up to number seven in 1997.
Condensed from A Brief History of the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy 1898-1998 by T. Jeff Bogue.
Nursing: From Simple Start to Ph.D. ProgramThe Memphis City Hospital School of Nursing, predecessor to the UT Memphis College of Nursing, opened in 1898, and the first group of eight women graduated in 1900. When World War I increased the demand for professional nurses, many graduates of the program joined the war efforts.
The nursing school became part of UT in 1926 when the city of Memphis agreed with the University to incorporate the school into its college of medicine. The hospital furnished space and equipment, and UT provided two faculty members. Requirements for admission were upgraded to four years of high school.
The program struggled to find qualified faculty through the Depression years of the 1930s. The first qualified educational director of the school, Katherine Upchurch, came in 1934. She and Frances Cunningham, who followed in 1936, provided the leadership to improve educational standards.The 1940s again brought preparations for war. The School of Nursing received federal funds to hire more faculty, with the purpose of producing more graduates. The Cadet Nurse Program to attract more women into nursing was implemented at UT in September 1943. A large group enrolled and eventually served in the military.
A major administrative change came when Ruth Neil Murry became educational director (1944) and director (1946) of the School of Nursing. Under her leadership, the school became an autonomous unit within the University. She became a full professor and dean and served until 1977. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, UT's was one of the best diploma programs in the country. Nursing Schools at the Mid-Century rated UT in Group I or the upper 25 percent of basic programs.
In 1950, UT established a four-year baccalaureate in nursing program and admitted its first class of students. Students continued to be admitted to the diploma program until the last group graduated in December 1954. In 1960 the National League for Nursing accredited the UT program, and the following year the school achieved college status. A graduate program was developed during the 1970s under Murry's leadership. The first students entering the master of science program in 1973 pursued one of two -options: community health/family nurse practitioner or psychiatric-mental health nursing. Other concentrations such as medical/surgical nursing, maternal/child nursing, nursing administration, and public/community health nursing were added over the next 13 years.
Michael Carter was appointed dean in 1982. He has emphasized patient care practice by the faculty and established practice sites in primary care settings, a nursing home, and inpatient hospital facilities. He has also emphasized research and recruited more faculty with doctoral degrees. In 1988 the Ph.D. program with a major in nursing began.
Condensed from From Diploma to Doctorate: 100 Years in the Evolution of a Southern School of Nursing by E. Dianne Greenhill.
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