As GSN celebrates 25 years of growth, nursing pioneers recall ‘How Far We’ve Come’
Twenty-five years is a short time in the life of an academic institution, but the Graduate School of Nursing has accomplished more in its first quarter century than many schools accomplish in twice that time. On Oct. 19, former and current deans were joined by other key contributors to mark the 25th anniversary with a panel discussion attended by 150 members of the UMass Chan/UMass Memorial community.
The event, “Look How Far We’ve Come (and How We Got Started),” held in recognition of American Archives Month and coordinated by the Lamar Soutter Library’s Office of Medical History and Archives with the Office of Alumni Relations, brought together the GSN’s first dean, Kathleen Dirschel, PhD; its second dean, Lillian Goodman, EdD; former UMass Medical Center COO and president Gail Frieswick, EdD; pioneering GSN faculty members Mary K. Alexander, EdD; Anne Bourgeois, EdD; and Sue Roberts, DNS; and inaugural class alum Karen Coteleso, MS, APRN. Current dean Paulette Seymour-Route, PhD, also an alum, moderated the panel, introducing each speaker with humor and thoughtful questions to launch their discussion.
Together, the panel presented an oral history of the school’s founding, reflecting on the challenges and the accomplishments and sharing their own unique perspectives in helping to shape what has become a resource in nursing excellence for all of Massachusetts. The initial vision to establish a nursing program at UMass Chan came from founding Medical School Dean Lamar Soutter, MD, who saw the need for a four-year bachelor’s program as part of an integrated health sciences center. By the time the vision became a reality, however, it was clear that a master’s program was not only more appropriate for the school but was what the region needed as a resource.
“There were very few opportunities for nurses to move up,” said Gail Frieswick, who was at the time chief operating officer at UMass Medical Center. “We saw the need locally for nurse practitioners, leaders and educators.”
In 1985, the Graduate School of Nursing was established with a master’s level program for advanced practice nurses that would qualify experienced registered nurses to become certified nurse practitioners. The GSN’s first dean, Dr. Kathleen Dirschel, was tasked with building the school from the ground up, doing everything from developing the curriculum to finding space—never an easy task and a challenge that continues to this day. Upon her appointment, Dirschel said, “What we’re developing here is a model of unification that can be useful in other institutions. Faculty will have joint clinical appointments and our students will be directly involved in patient care and will work collaboratively with physicians in such areas as research.” As she reflected on that time, she said, “I was the lucky one to be here.”
Under Dirschel’s direction, the GSN admitted its first class of students in 1986, just one short year after the school was established. During that time, a comprehensive curriculum was designed, faculty were recruited and admission standards were e
