 
Dorothy Sexton |
creator of Medical-Surgical Nursing Program
A scholarship fund has been established at the Yale School of Nursing (YSN) to honor Dorothy Sexton, creator of the school's Medical-Surgical Nursing Program and leader in the development of its doctoral program, who retired in May after 27 years.
"Dorothy Sexton has worked in service to high-quality educational programs and in support of those who teach. She is a teacher's teacher," says YSN Dean Catherine Lynch Gilliss. "Although her contributions will be greatly missed, she leaves behind the legacy of a cadre of excellent teachers whom she has mentored."
The new Dorothy Sexton Scholarship Fund was established to advance a new generation of nurse scholars. It is the first such scholarship honoring a YSN faculty member.
The $100,000 scholarship will develop and support students in their pursuit of high-quality nursing practice and scholarship.
Sexton began her Yale career in 1974, having previously conducted research studies on how families coped with chronic illness, particularly pulmonary disease. However, her research role evolved with a greater emphasis on mentoring others as they undertook their own research studies.
When she joined the YSN faculty, Sexton created a curriculum in medical-surgical nursing for the incoming class in the new master's program for college graduates with no prior nursing experience. Now known as the Graduate Entry Pre-Specialty in Nursing (GEPN), this program is Yale's most popular route for entry, producing nurse practitioners, midwives and clinical nurse specialists. Yale's GEPN program was the first program of its kind in the country and has been extensively duplicated by other universities.
In 1975, Sexton developed YSN's Medical-Surgical Nursing Program. Sexton touts her main success there as "having an eye for hiring the best faculty. They had to love clinical practice. I could always teach people to teach and teach them to write, but I could not teach them how to have a commitment and love for the clinical aspect." She also authored many training grants that brought in federal funds to help the school expand its offerings. Sexton was instrumental in launching YSN's doctoral program in 1994.
An accomplished author, Sexton is known for prodding her students to publish their own work and for providing editing assistance to novice scholars. Her own works include two acclaimed books, "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Care of the Child and Adult" (1981) and "Nursing Case of the Respiratory Patient" (1990). Her articles have appeared in numerous professional journals. Sexton intends to continue writing and encouraging her former students to publish their work.
Sexton, who was named a professor emerita in August, won many honors in her career, including the Annie Goodrich Award, which is given by YSN students to the most outstanding teacher on the faculty.
A graduate of the Hospital of Saint Raphael School of Nursing, Sexton earned her bachelor's degree at Boston College and her master's and doctoral degrees from Boston University. She taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Boston University before coming to Yale. She was recruited by YSN for her experience in teaching students new to the profession. She was granted tenure in 1984.
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