Colleen Conway-Welch (April 26, 1944 – October 12, 2018) was an American nursing and public health advocate. She served as Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) from 1984 to 2013 and on President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

Biography

Conway-Welch was born in

Monticello, Iowa Monticello is a city in Jones County, Iowa, Jones County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city population was 4,040. Geography Monticello is located at (42.238759, -91.189067). According to the United ...

, and was the oldest of three sisters. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a farmer who went on to work in construction. His career required the family to constantly move to his latest project. Conway-Welch entered Georgetown University School of Nursing at age 16 on a full scholarship. She earned degrees from Georgetown, Catholic University School of Nursing, and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, where she received her

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

. Conway-Welch began her career as a

labor and delivery Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy, where one or more fetuses exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section and becomes a newborn to the world. ...

staff nurse at Georgetown University in the 1960s. She also worked in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, in emergency rooms in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and as a

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

. In the early 1980s, she was asked to run the midwifery program at the

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is the academic health sciences campus in Aurora, Colorado that houses the University of Colorado's six health sciences-related schools and colleges, including the University of Colorado Schoo ...

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

VUSN

In 1984, Conway-Welch was asked to be VUSN's dean. At the time, the school had only around 100 baccalaureates, a small number of

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

graduates, and no doctoral program. She overhauled the curriculum, introducing an accelerated master's program. Under her leadership, VUSN started its

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

program in 1993 and its Doctor of Nursing Practice program in 2008. One of the largest nursing schools in the country, VUSN also earned a top national ranking. Conway-Welch retired in 2013 and was named Dean Emerita by VUSN. She was succeeded as dean by Linda Norman.

Personal life

Shortly after becoming VUSN's dean, Conway-Welch made a fundraising call to prominent

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

businessman Ted Welch. They later married and went on to be fixtures in political, charity, and civic events. He died in 2014; she died of pancreatic cancer in 2018.

Honors

Conway-Welch was active nationally in health policy and education. She was named by President Reagan to serve on his Commission on the HIV Epidemic in 1987 and, in 2006, was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

to serve as a member of the Board of Regents of the

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is a health science university and professional school of the U.S. federal government. The primary mission of the school is to prepare graduates for service to the U.S. at home and abroa ...

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

. In 2016, she was inducted into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame and was named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing for her contributions to the nursing profession. In 2017, she was elected to the ''

Modern Healthcare ''Modern Healthcare'' is a twice monthly business publication targeting executives in the healthcare industry. It is an independent American publisher of national and regional healthcare news. The publication is also known for providing statisti ...

'' Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway-Welch, Colleen 1944 births 2018 deaths American women nurses Nursing school deans Catholic University of America alumni Georgetown University School of Nursing alumni New York University Grossman School of Medicine alumni People from Monticello, Iowa Vanderbilt University administrators Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Tennessee Members of the National Academy of Medicine