Nurses Club

In 1961, the year after East Carolina College’s new School of Nursing enrolled its first class, a Nurses Club was established. Open to all enrolled in nursing, the club sought to foster professional comradery and service among prospective nurses by working with the Tuberculosis Association, serving at Red Cross blood drives, organizing educational events, assisting in Christmas Seal drives, and contributing to hospital festivities for patients. Also, the club made regular appearances in Homecoming parades with impressive nursing floats. The motto, “Fame is nothing; the deed is everything,” conveyed the group’s strong esprit de corps. In this picture, East Carolinian photographer Skip Wamsley captures three members of the Nurses Club – Carolyn Lucille Sorrell of Raleigh, Brenda Vann of Dunn, and Nurses Club president, Nancy Compton of Sanford – at an exhibit explaining the basics related to shots, or medical injections. ECC nursing students received their academic and lab training on campus, and their clinical training at hospitals in the area, including Pitt Memorial Hospital (later Vidant).

When the School of Nursing began in the fall of 1960, Katharine Bedloe Sallé of Washington, N.C., was the first of 52 students – 47 freshmen and five graduate students – to enroll. The founding dean was Ms. Eva Warren, formerly educational director at Watts Hospital in Durham. Warren led the school for nearly a decade, planning and organizing its curriculum. Her dedication to nursing education helped establish East Carolina’s credibility as a source of training for health care providers of all sorts including that of physicians. Warren had the strong backing of President Leo W. Jenkins who soon launched what would be a decade-long campaign for a medical school at East Carolina. Jenkins’ success in securing the medical school was in part facilitated by East Carolina’s earlier successes with its school of nursing.

Representative Walter B. Jones, Sr. of Pitt County led the political push for state funding for the ECC nursing school. Virtually every legislator from the eastern part of the state supported funding for it. There was, however, opposition from powerful corners. In 1957, the state legislature flatly had denied appropriations for the program. In 1959, the Asheville Citizen-Times ran an article, “ECC 4-Year Nursing School Seen [as a ] Mistake,” quoting vice chairman of the N. C. Board of Higher Education, L. P. McLendon of Greensboro. McLendon declared that ECC would be making “a big mistake” if it started the school. The Board of Higher Education reportedly favored a two-year program, but made no budgetary requests for it. Chairman of the Board of Higher Education, D. Hiden Ramsey of Asheville, said the state had enough, “or almost enough,” four-year collegiate nursing schools to meet current needs, and that demand was for trained nurses from two-year programs rather than four-year programs.

Jones countered that the need for a nursing program had been clear since WWII, especially with the addition of over 1,000 hospital beds regionally. Increasing specialization in medicine made the shortage in nurses even more acute. Jones added that graduates of ECC’s four-year course in nursing would be qualified to teach in three-year schools of nursing, helping to add to the supply of nurses in the state. In support of the proposed school, the Rocky Mount Telegram observed that the ECC School of Nursing “will be the only collegiate school of nursing located in this portion of the state.” Despite opposition from the Board of Higher Education, the 1959 state legislature’s appropriations subcommittee included, in a last-minute move, funding of $52,000 ($97,000 had been requested) for the school’s first year.” Jones and other legislators were “tremendously pleased” by the decision.

The ECC nursing school received provisional accreditation in December 1960 from the North Carolina Board of Nurse Registration and Nursing Education. In December 1964, the school achieved full certification by the National League of Nursing. The same year, it graduated its first class of four-year students. By that year, the nursing faculty had grown from three to 14, and students enrolled from 52 to nearly 200. In 1977, a master’s program was added. A decade later, in 1987, the school became the College of Nursing. In 2002, a doctoral program was added. In 2010, under the leadership of Dean Phyllis Horns, the College of Nursing celebrated the 50th year anniversary of its founding. The College of Nursing stands as one of the driving forces behind ECU’s health sciences programs, supplying a steady flow of highly qualified nurses into the health professions regionally and nationally, thus fulfilling one dimension of the university’s mission of service.

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Sources

• “52 In First Class At ECC’s Nursing School.” Rocky Mount Telegram. September 18, 1960. P. 35.
• East Carolina Nursing Student Handbook. UA36-01. University Archives, East Carolina University. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA36-01.
• “ECC 4-Year Nursing School Seen Mistake.” Asheville Citizen-Times. April 21, 1959. P. 9.
• “ECC’s Nursing School Is Being Well-Attended. Rocky Mount Telegram. June 15, 1962. P. 12.
• “ECC School of Nursing To Be Opened In Sept.” Rocky Mount Telegram. March 8, 1960. P. 12.
• Harris, Bunny. “New Nursing Program At ECC Is Approved.” Daily Times-News (Burlington). May 22, 1959. P. 12.
• “Interest Grows In Nursing Program.” Rocky Mount Telegram. May 21, 1961. P. 9.
• “Nurses Club Mails Easter Seals.” Buccaneer. Greenville, N.C.: East Carolina College, 1964. P. 199.
• “Nursing School Has First Class.” Rocky Mount Telegram. June 9, 1964. P. 8B.
• “Nursing School Is Accredited; Gets New Staff Member.” Rocky Mount Telegram. February 5, 1961. P. 5.
• “Portion Of Victory Won For ECC Nursing School.” Rocky Mount Telegram. May 24, 1959. P. 2.
• Pulse: East Carolina University School of Nursing. University Archives # UA50-21. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C.
• “School of Nursing, 1959-1970.” Box 51, Folders 78-83. Records of Leo W. Jenkins' Tenure. University Archives # UA02-06. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C.

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