UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #849
BECKER, PATRICIA

BECKER, PATRICIA  (1932-    )
Helen Denne Schulte Professor Emerita of Nursing
At UW: 1980-2000

Interviewed: 2007	Length: 2 hours
Interviewer: Sandy Pfahler

Abstract: Childhood and education in India; undergraduate study at Oberlin College; degree in Nursing from Yale University; marriage, family, and life in Germany during the Korean War; graduate study at the University of Connecticut; research on infant sleep; hiring by UW School of Nursing; research and publication; teaching graduate students; campus committee service; national organizations; awards and honors; family life and recreation.
							
Interview Session  (March 13, 2007): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

0:01:24	Patricia Becker was born in India, where her parents served as missionaries.  They lived in Bombay.  She talks about her family.  Travel in India.  Boarding school for English-speaking children.

0:03:23	Her family lived in the United States during World War II and returned to India after the war was over.  She attended junior high school in Massachusetts.  Transportation to and from India.

0:05:15	PB considers her education “excellent” and she enjoyed hiking, camping, and other activities.  

0:07:03	She talks about applying for college.  She attended Oberlin College in Ohio.  Scholarship program for missionary children.  Her sister and brother also attended Oberlin. She discusses her interest in science.  She majored in zoology and considered careers in science.

0:09:19	Becker went to Yale to get a Master’s degree in nursing and RN degree.  Her husband was a medical student at Yale.  Marriage and family.  Her husband served in the military in Germany during the Korean War and the family lived there for 3 years.  They returned to Yale after the war.

0:11:31	Her husband went into private practice while she raised the three daughters.

0:12:38	She talks about the emerging women’s movement and her desire to reenter professional life.  She and her husband divorced.  She took a job as a public health nurse and then another job doing research at the University of Connecticut.  Research with newborns.

0:15:12	She explains how she decided to return to graduate school to get her PhD in her early 40s.  Research on infant sleep.  She talks about being an older student in the program.

0:19:25	Becker talks about the current shortage of nursing faculty.  The beginning of Ph.D. programs in nursing.  Becker’s Ph.D. was in developmental psychobiology.  Studying the neurobiological basis of behavior.  

0:22:27	PB explains why she became interested in the field.  Her interest in observation of behavior. She talks about her research and dissertation.

0:25:43	She talks about her family and their support for her education.  Her mentor E. B. Thoman. She talks about her job application process and being hired by UW as a professor of nursing.

0:28:34	Becker discusses the origin of the UW doctoral program in nursing in the 1980s.  Competition with UW-Milwaukee.  The program started with a five year trial period.

0:30:19	Becker talks about her research on sleep behavior in babies of adolescent mothers during her first years at UW.  

0:34:56	Research on nursing care for low birth weight infants.  NIH funding.

0:36:28	She talks about changes in how infants are cared for in hospitals.  The effect of her research on these changes.  

0:41:43	Becker talks about skepticism among physicians about the changes in infant care.  Coordinating infant care to minimize disruptions. 

0:47:22	End of Side.

Tape 1/Side 2

0:47:44	Becker discusses research funding and grants.  The National Institute for Nursing Research. There was much more money available for research in the 1980s than now.  

0:49:24	She talks about grant writing publishing and deadlines.  Reviewing manuscripts for journals.  Editing.

0:51:05	She discusses the tenure process.  She talks about the differences between nursing research and some other fields that generate more publications.

0:53:02	She talks about her enjoyment of teaching graduate seminars.  She recounts her experiences with large undergraduate courses.  Mentoring graduate students.  Teaching students how to write.  The UW Writing Center.  University writing requirements. 

0:57:17	PB talks about some of her memorable graduate students.  Development of graduate programs for Nurse Practitioner training in the 1990s.  Nurse midwifery program at Marquette University.

1:01:03	Becker talks about the facilities for the School of Nursing on campus.  The offices are in the UW Hospital complex.  There is an ongoing project to raise money for a new building for Nursing.  

1:03:00	Becker talks about collaborative research and research opportunities on campus.  The Waisman Center.  The UW Cancer Center.

1:10:10	She discusses some of the campus committees that she served on.  Library Committee.  Academic Planning Council. Campus Planning Committee.  Bio-ethics Committee and stem cell research.

1:13:49	Becker was the Chair of the search committee when the School of Nursing hired a new Dean.  Faculty Senate.

1:15:36	PB talks about the climate for women in the sciences at UW.  Physician-nurse conflicts.  Women’s mentoring program.

1:19:20	She talks about human subjects research.  Increasing regulation of human research.

1:22:46	She talks about increasing interest in adolescent motherhood as a political/social issue and new opportunities for research. State and community organizations dealing with family issues.

1:26:18	She discusses the growth of cultural sensitivity training.  Minority populations in Madison. Community health centers and services.

1:32:15	Becker lists some of her activities in national professional organizations.

1:34:17	She explains how she was awarded the Helen Denne Schulte professorship.  Other professional awards.

1:35:32	End of Side.  End of Tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

1:35:47	Becker continues to discuss awards she won during her career.  The Hilldale Award.  American Academy of Nursing.

1:38:17	She talks about not missing the hard work of doing research, but missing the intellectual challenge of solving problems.  

1:39:51	She talks about balancing work and family life.  She talks about her daughters’ careers and their families.  Travel.

1:46:31	Becker talks about her travel on bird-watching trips.  Foreign trips.  Canoeing.  Film. Reading.  

1:53:29	She talks about her Elderhostel travels.  Other travel.

1:57:07	End of Side.  End of Tape.  End of Interview.

END