UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #583
COOPER, SIGNE

COOPER, Signe (1921-2013)
Staff Nurse; Head Nurse; Professor of Nursing
At UW: 1938-1943; 1945-1948; 1948-1983

Interviewed: 2002	
Interviewer: Vivian Littlefield
Length: 52 minutes

Childhood; Undergraduate degree in nursing at Wisconsin; Work in maternity ward at Wisconsin General Hospital; Service in army nurse corps; Appointment as professor of nursing; Helen Denne Shulte; Christina Murray; Margery MacLachlan; Helen Bunge; Valerie Prock; Continuing education program in nursing; Retirement activities

Interview Session (May 22, 2002): Tape 1

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:01	The interviewer introduces Signe Cooper and gives some information about her career.

00:00:47	SC talks about her childhood on a farm in Iowa. Her family moved to Madison while she was in high school and she then commuted to the UW. She says that she always wanted to be a nurse because her favorite aunt was a nurse.

00:01:59	She says that she chose UW-Madison because she wasn't old enough to apply to another university she wanted to attend. She explains why she enjoyed her studies at UW.

00:03:25	She recalls that on the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed, her patients were unusually quiet. The following day her 11:00 class was canceled so that students could listen to Roosevelt's radio broadcast.

00:05:01	Wisconsin’s governor-elect, Orland Loomis, was admitted to the hospital in the fall of 1942 and died of a heart attack. She says it was a shocking experience.

00:06:08	She got her nursing certificate in February 1943, but still had to finish her degree.  Her first position was in the maternity ward in the old Wisconsin General Hospital. From 1943 to 1946 she served in the army nurse corps. She recalls that while serving in India, she served in the scrub typhus (tsutsugamushi fever) ward.  Because she had training in psychiatric nursing, she was then transferred to the psychiatric ward.

00:08:30	After she returned to Madison, she continued to work full-time in the maternity ward while attending school part-time. The ward was busy because of the baby boom. During these years she helped Erna Ziegel revise an obstetric nursing book.

00:10:20	In 1948 she was appointed nursing arts instructor.  The director of the nursing school, Christina Murray, encouraged her to attend summer school. SC attended Columbia Teachers College for three consecutive summers. After teaching at UW for several years, she earned a MS in nursing at the University of Minnesota.

00:13:53	SC talks about Helen Denne Shulte, who was director of nursing from 1924 to 1937.

00:17:56	She discusses Christina Murray, who succeeded Denne Shulte and who served from 1938 to 1948. SC describes a few events from Murray's tenure: in 1939, the first major in public health nursing was established, which meant that students no longer had to do a double major with another academic subject; in 1946, a second major in ward management and teaching was introduced; during WWII, the cadet nurse corps was started.

00:21:48	After Murray died in 1948, her position was taken by Margery MacLachlan, who served from 1949 to 1959. MacLachlan was the first graduate of the school of nursing. Although SC says she does not think that MacLachlan provided the direction the school needed, she believes that MacLachlan succeeded in a few areas.

00:24:09	SC talks about Helen Bunge, who served from 1959 to 1969, and assesses her tenure positively. Bunge secured well-prepared faculty, encouraged research, and started the first graduate program in pediatric nursing. During Bunge's tenure, the school became an autonomous school within the university. SC says that she felt concerned because Bunge thought her talents were wasted in extension.

00:27:25	In 1970, Valerie Prock was appointed dean. SC talks about her accomplishments, which included attracting more prepared faculty, expanding research, and starting a doctoral program. She describes the controversy surrounding the establishment of the doctoral program.

00:30:47	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:30:58	SC continues to discuss the doctoral program, which took a long time to establish.

00:31:47	She talks about the beginning course in nursing, which she taught from 1948 to 1954. She enjoyed the experience because of the students’ enthusiasm. She talks about the support she received from the faculty when she first arrived.

00:33:51	SC explains how she was appointed to extension after earning her Masters degree in Minnesota.

00:36:20	She describes the continuing education program in nursing, which is the oldest program in the country still in existence today. She talks about some of the courses taught in extension nursing. Because nurses felt that they weren’t prepared after psychiatric patients starting being admitted into hospitals, non-credit courses in psychiatric nursing were offered.

00:38:54	Later the extension nursing program incorporated distance learning, particularly the Educational Telephone Network (ETN). SC says that May Hornback was very active in this area. The first course on the ETN was Call Nursing 1966.

00:40:43	The next area in which extension nursing became involved was the Regional Medical Program, which was a program initiated by President Lyndon Johnson.  As part of this, they developed Nursing Dial Access, a program of short tapes on various nursing topics that people could listen to over the phone.

00:42:29	SC talks about the challenges she faced, which included meeting demand, finding teachers, and winter travel. She says that funding became a problem in later years, as programs were increasingly expected to be self-supporting.

00:43:29	She discusses the national recognition that the faculty of extension nursing received for their work in continuing education.

00:44:54	SC talks about the greatest disappointment of her career. As the first Shulte Professor in the School of Nursing, she hoped to write a history of the School but has not yet completed it. She says that her writing gives her great satisfaction.  She has written or edited five books on continuing education in nursing. She now writes short biographies of Wisconsin nurses.

00:47:43	She says that the highlight of her career was being named to the Nursing Hall of 	Fame. She felt honored to receive the Linda Richards Award in 1957.

00:48:46	SC says that since her retirement, she has written and done volunteer work. She 
		speculates on the future of the School of Nursing and the discipline of nursing.

00:52:03	End of side. End of tape.

END