UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #804
JOHNSON, JEAN

JOHNSON, Jean (1925- )
Professor Emerita of Nursing
At UW: 1966-1971 as student and researcher; 1998-current as faculty emerita

Interviewed: 2006	
Interviewer: Sandy Pfahler
Length: 1.5 hours

Abstract: Childhood and early education in rural Kansas; Undergraduate studies at Kansas State University; Clinical nurse training in Kansas City; Teaching in Iowa and Colorado; Master’s degree at Yale; Research in surgical patient stress; Grant funding; Ph.D. training at the University of Wisconsin; Center for Health Research at Wayne State University; Associate Director for Nursing in the Cancer Center and Professor of Nursing in the School of Nursing at the University of Rochester; Advances in nursing research; Awards and honors; hobbies and recreational activities.

Interview Session (August 30, 2006): Tape 1

Tape 1/Side 1

00:01:10	Johnson was born in rural Kansas.  She attended a 1-room school through 7th grade.  She went to high school in a small town. She graduated in 1943.  She had 8 siblings.

00:02:19	She talks about the experience of growing up with brothers.

00:02:39	She discusses her early education.  Her brothers had gone to college but her sisters did not.

00:03:21	She talks about her family’s desire to see her go to college.  She attended Kansas State University.  She worked at Douglas aircraft factory in Tulsa to earn money for college.  She talks about having to learn how to live in a city.

00:05:00	Her lodging in a boarding house.

00:05:49	Working to pay for college.

00:06:13	JJ talks about how she ended up going into nursing.

00:07:16	She assesses the quality of her education at Kansas State.

00:08:29	Johnson moved to Kansas City for clinical nursing training in a hospital.  She talks about some of her experiences at the hospital during the war.

00:10:16	She talks about the hand-on nature of her training.  

00:12:10	Johnson talks about funding through the wartime Cadet Nurses program and debts to her father.

00:13:04	JJ took a job teaching at a hospital in Sioux City, Iowa after graduation.  She shares some recollections about teaching.  Her lack of teaching experience.  She spent three years in this position.

00:15:00	Her marriage.

00:15:33	Johnson and her husband moved to Denver after her 3-year contract was done.  She taught nursing at Loretta Heiss College and at Presbyterian Hospital.  She also did some nursing.

00:17:23	She was divorced and took a job as an in-service education coordinator.

00:17:59	She talks about planning to work on a Master’s degree.  She ended up going to the Yale School of Nursing in 1963 because of the requirement she would have to take.  She went into the psychiatric nursing program.

00:20:10	She talks about her experiences at Yale and her introduction to research.  Grant-funded research on measurement of anxiety in surgical patients.

00:24:53	She talks about her grant funding through the Division of Nursing of the NIH.

00:25:52	Johnson able to continue the grant and transfer it to Wisconsin when she started Ph.D. work.  She talks about her excitement about finding a research area that interested her.

00:27:16	She talks about deciding where to go for her Ph.D. and why she picked the Wisconsin School of Psychology

00:30:47	Getting into the program was competitive because of the Vietnam War.  Many male students wanted to enroll in graduate school to avoid the war.  She was accepted, but did not get any funding or support from the department.

00:32:45	Johnson talks about her research on patient stress at UW.  Her research involved learning what kind of information to provide to surgical patients to alleviate their stress.

00:35:24	She talks about her relationship with the School of Nursing and the School of Medicine at UW.  Clinical research on the effect of giving patients information.

00:39:50	Johnson talks about her relationship with fellow students.  The culture of the 1960s.  Taking prelims during the student demonstrations. Her “motherly” role as an older student.

00:42:29	She talks about her post-graduation work.  She had a 5-year grant, but had trouble finding a university position.  Most wanted her to be an administrator and not do research.

00:44:31	She talks about the research focus of the UW School of Nursing during her time there.

00:46:09	She talks about taking a position at Wayne State University in Detroit.  

00:46:56	End of Side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:47:01	Johnson continues to discuss her faculty position in the Center for Health Research at Wayne State University.  She began as an associate professor.  She was Director of the Center for a time.  Developing a research program.

00:48:16	She talks about living in Detroit.

00:49:42	In 1979 she applied for and got a job as Associate Director for Nursing in the Cancer Center and Professor of Nursing in the School of Nursing at the University of Rochester.  

00:52:12	She talks about her research in cancer and work at the Cancer Center.  Grant funding.  Winning the respect of the doctors on the staff.

00:54:56	She discusses the Center as a model for other cancer programs.  The lack of nurses engaged in research.

00:56:04	She talks about her legacy as a forerunner in science-based experimental research.

00:56:48	Johnson talks about the beginning of the UW School of Nursing program.  Johnson’s work was a model, but she was not directly involved in the creation of the program.

00:59:36	She talks about the women who were the first students in the program.

01:00:52	Johnson discusses some of the most significant advances in her career.  The establishment of the discipline of health psychology.

1:02:22	The movement toward increased quantitative experimental research.

1:02:36	Johnson talks about challenges during her career.  The greatest problem has been being allowed to do what she wanted to do.

1:04:42	Johnson returned to UW as a visiting seminar and taught a seminar.  She feels like she still in not a good teacher. 

1:05:49	She talks about being involved with professional organizations.  The Council for Nursing Research in the American Nurses Association.  The American Psychological society.  Other groups.  She is a Living Legend of the American Academy of Nursing.

1:08:14	She talks about being elected to the Institute of Medicine in the National Academy of Sciences.

1:11:18	Johnson lists some other honors and awards she has won during her career.

1:13:33	She talks about retirement and work during her Emeritus status.  She had relatives near Spring Green, Wisconsin, and wanted to move closer to them.  Family activities.

1:16:12	She talks about getting involved at the UW School of Nursing.  She gives her opinion about the quality of the doctoral program.  
	
1:18:54	She talks about some of her recreational activities.  Water color painting.  Sewing.

1:22:58	She mentions that her papers are filed at an archive at the University of Rochester.

1:24:34	The interviewer adds the fact that Dr. Johnson received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from UW in 1998.

1:25:01	End of Side.  End of Tape.  End of Interview.

END