Welcome to this episode of Nursing EDge Unscripted Saga where we journey through the history of nursing education using stories that connect the past to the present and then our future as we reimagine our teaching and learning. October is the birth month of Margaret Newman, born October 10, 1933 in Memphis, Tennessee. Nursing was not Dr. Newman's first career.
After finishing her formative education in Memphis, she attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas graduating with a bachelor's degree in home economics and English. After college she returned to Memphis where she worked at Grace Chemical Company. It was during this early part of her career that her mother was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. Margaret became her primary caregiver and through her care began to appreciate the importance of living day by
day. She also learned through her mother that a person can be healthy even in the face of disease. Margaret was transformed by her caregiver role. This transformation would underpin the very heart and soul of her work moving forward. She decided to change her career trajectory and entered nursing school at the University of Tennessee College of Nursing. After obtaining her baccalaureate nursing degree, she went on to graduate school at the University
of California San Francisco. She then returned to Memphis where she served as an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of Tennessee and as Director of the UT Nursing Clinical Research Center. Margaret's passion for understanding the unique relationship between nurse and patient that could achieve a greater sense of health
led her to nurse theorist Martha Rogers. This was also at a time that nurses were writing about nursing as a discipline and responding to the inquiry of what constitutes the science and art of nursing. Martha Rogers was writing about health in a manner that captured the practice of nursing this notion strongly resonated with Margaret and she knew then that this is what she wanted to study. She enrolled at NYU to study with Martha Rogers and received her PhD
in 1971. She continued at NYU in a faculty role and started a postdoctoral summer workshop on nursing theory development co-authoring a source book for nursing research in 1973. In 1977 she assumed to the position of professor in charge of graduate studies in nursing at Penn state. Dr. Newman was a deep and curious thinker and invited other nurse scholars to engage in an international nursing theory think tank. Her work in nursing theory resulted in her publication of
Theory Development in Nursing published in 1979. With her love for research and theory and her ongoing scholarly work on the deep connections to health in the nurse patient relationship, she successfully introduced her theory of health as expanding consciousness at a nursing theory conference in New York in 1978. In 1984 she assumed a position as nurse theorist and professor at the University of Minnesota.
It was here that she further developed her theory on health working closely with doctoral students. She would continue to evolve her theory and finally publish her theory health as expanding consciousness in 1994. A quote from that book reads: Dr. Newman's scholarship and notable research career garnered her a civilian consultant role to the U.S Surgeon General for Nursing Research.
In 2008, the American Academy of Nursing named Dr. Newman a "Living Legend," the highest honor one can receive in the discipline of nursing. Among many honors, she was a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and named Outstanding Alumnus by the University of Tennessee and New York University. The Zeta chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International established a Margaret Newman Scholars Award to support doctoral students who research extends
her theory. Although she retired from teaching in 1999, her work in teaching influences us today. She published numerous books with her final book in 2008 entitled, "Transforming Presence: The Difference that Nursing Makes." Sadly, Margaret passed away on December 18, 2018 in Memphis. Nursing Education Perspectives, our NLN research journal, reviewed Dr. Newman's 2008 book. Dr Gail Roux writes: That is the connection with nursing education
today. Dr. Newman's work is clearly evident. The notion of nursing presence underpins nursing practice and by extension nursing education. As educators, it's our ability to convey that unique nursing presence that enhances the safety of the learning space that resonates with our learners. As nurse educators, our learners have become our patients - the population to which we focus
our work as educators. What better way to convey the art and science of nursing than to role model that very presence with our learners. Presence can be transformative both to our patients and our learners. Dr. Margaret Newman - theorist, researcher, and most importantly, present listener. And so the saga continues and may our saga continue as we bring to a close this episode of Nursing EDge Unscripted Saga. Thank you for joining us