Katharine Jane Densford
[note 1][7]: 88–89 [4] By 1920, she graduated from the Vassar Training Camp for Nurses, where she completed an intensive three-month educational program.
[8][7]: 91–94 She also served as Assistant Dean and Associate Director of Nursing Service for the Cook County Hospital in Chicago.
During her tenure, School of Nursing faculty began providing bedside instruction, ensuring that students learned from the most-prepared people available.
[7]: 96–101 In response to the high unemployment rates for nurses during the Great Depression in the 1930s, Densford collaborated with hospitals and the university to create a "Learn and Earn program".
[7]: 101 Densford's focus on finding and retaining talent resulted in a number of important hires in the 1930s, including Cecilia Hauge, Myrtle Hodgkins (later known as Mrs. John Coe), Mildred Montag, Frances Lucier, Ruth D. Johnson, Julia Miller and Ruth Harrington.
[5]: 107–109 [7]: 100–107, 133–135 During 1937–1938 Densford and Hauge went for 6 months to Europe, to attend the International Council of Nurses ICN meeting in London.
[7]: 125–127 Densford continued throughout the 1930’s to improve the School of Nursing's programs in terms of content, teaching and patient care.
[13][5]: 95 Densford released Hauge and Petry and many others for direct war services in leadership positions, who were replaced by bringing back retired nurses, local sourcing, and having all faculty increase their teaching load.
[14][15] Lucille Petry went to Washington to work with the Surgeon General to help facilitate nursing education around the county.
[note 3]: 47 [22] [23] While class sizes increased and instruction was accelerated to get students into the field as soon as possible, remaining faculty also served on civil defense committees and took on additional training responsibilities in the area of home health.
[24] President Roosevelt announced that due to the urgent need, he wanted to mobilize greater numbers by use of forced induction.
Nationwide reaction included concern from many communities that were already operating despite drastically reduced nursing staff.
[27] In some communities, sufficient nurses to meet quota had already signed up and were on waiting lists for physical examinations or assignments.
That the numbers of nurses willing to volunteer would be available if the War Manpower Commission, or another government department were given the power to make necessary changes.
By June 1945 the U.S. Army directed the Red Cross to stop taking applications, as they had all the nurses they needed from voluntary enlistment.
[32] Densford had been concerned about the provision of nursing services in rural areas already, but the war made the situation even more severe.
Densford was in charge of all arrangements (along with Ella Best, Secretary) which included locating lodgings for attendees among local residents, and raising funds to cover travel costs.
Authorized at the 1946 Biennial, and enacted during the 1948 House of Delegates meeting, the ANA changed its membership requirements for the purpose of enabling black nurses to join.
The University entered into a contract with the International Cooperation Administration (of the U.S. State Department)[43] for the period from 1954 to 1959 originally, which was extended after that.
At the time she arrived, the nursing course was described as being similar to a high school level of technical education.
Mabel Larson Roach took responsibility for coordinating the statewide program, which included six rural hospitals and nine urban schools of nursing.
[49]: 25–26 These activities expanded to the School of Agriculture, which Densford worked with to provide a course on home management and practical nursing.
After that point a number of diverse programs have continued to exist including a Rural Nurse Practitioners Project.
