and Augustinian values animates its
education of new generations of nurses.
”
M. Louise Fitzpatrick,
ed.d., r.n., f.a.a.n.
CONNELLY ENDOWED DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF NURSING
Community involvement was a guiding force in
Dean Louise Fitzpatrick’s upbringing. An only
child of older parents, she grew up in central
New Jersey where her father served in the
public school system for 48 years, was elected
to several terms as mayor, and actively participated in community organizations. Her mother
grew up in a church rectory in a nearby
community, where her family made a home for
her uncle, a Catholic priest and champion of
Italian immigrants’ rights. Fitzpatrick’s mother
earned her law degree in 1929 and worked in
the district court until her marriage in 1939.
As a teenager, Fitzpatrick worked as a
counselor at a summer camp for disadvantaged children, many of whom had health
problems. “That was my first exposure to the
relationship between poverty and health,” she
says. Following a public school education, she
enrolled in the nursing program at Johns
Hopkins, which included clinical practice in
public health in Baltimore’s neighborhoods
and tenements, caring for people with physical,
psychosocial and environmental health
problems. This specialty became her passion.
Following graduation from Hopkins and
employment in a hospital, Fitzpatrick returned
to school and earned her bachelor’s degree
from The Catholic University of America. She
then worked as a public health nurse and
began graduate study at Columbia University,
completing two master’s degrees and a
doctorate by age 30. She was invited to remain
at Columbia, and was promoted to the rank of
associate professor early in her career. She
taught graduate students, practiced in central
Harlem and the southeast Bronx, and became
increasingly interested in international health
through her association with classmates and
students from around the world. A World
Health Organization Fellowship further
developed her interest in global health.
Phone calls from the Rev. John M. Driscoll,
O.S. A., president of Villanova University, began
in late 1976. He was searching for a nursing
dean. “I was too busy to visit Villanova, let
alone consider a new position, but Father
Driscoll was persistent,” Fitzpatrick recalls.
Finally she visited in August 1977. Something
about Villanova intrigued her. The school had
potential, and she found Father Driscoll to be
direct, honest and kind. She accepted the
position and began her appointment as dean in
January 1978, while continuing to mentor
doctoral students from Columbia who were
nearing degree completion.
Over the years, Villanova’s College of Nursing
has become a leader in nursing education. Its
well-prepared faculty, its graduate programs
and its work with vulnerable populations— both
locally and internationally —have developed
while the commitment to undergraduate
education has remained strong. The College’s
new $32 million facility, aptly named Driscoll
Hall, is the launching pad for the College’s
future and for addressing the imminent changes
in healthcare and the national nursing shortage.
According to Fitzpatrick, “The College’s
commitment to Catholic and Augustinian values
animates its education of new generations of
nurses for an ever-challenging world.”
