2012 Commencement Book - UCLA School of Nursing

Rose Marie Nesbit, BS ’57
Recipient, Dean’s Living Legacy
Award 2012
It was a privilege to have my childhood desire to become a nurse
fulfilled as a graduate of the fourth class of the UCLA School of
Nursing in 1957. The founding Dean, Dr. Lulu K. Wolf Hassenplug,
had a vision for transforming nursing education and professional
recognition. She reimagined the role of a well-educated nurse in
society. The education provided by the UCLA School of Nursing
enabled our class to make major contributions to nursing practice
and leadership.
Our class of 21 graduates, nicknamed “The Late Bloomers” by a
nursing instructor, has kept in contact and has reunions every several
years. On our 50th year reunion we went on a three-day cruise together.
In addition to working in Public Health in Inglewood and in private
duty at the UCLA Medical Center, I chaired both Dean Ada Lindsey’s
and Dean Marie Cowan’s Boards of Nursing Advisors. Dean Marie
Cowan successfully restarted the undergraduate nursing program
after its unfortunate cancelation. My husband and I also helped lead
the campaign to endow the Lulu K. Wolf Hassenplug Chair, the first
Endowed Chair in the UCLA School of Nursing.
Dean Courtney Lyder brings new energy to the traditions of improving
education and professional roles with his vision of Nursing Reimagined,
Nursing Redefined. The current graduates of the UCLA School of
Nursing are well prepared to lead the profession.
It is with humility and grateful appreciation that I thank Dr. Courtney
Lyder for this honor.