Linnea E. Henderson, EdD, is recognized as the founding dean of the School of Nursing at Kent State University, which was renamed as the College of Nursing in 1999. She served at Kent State from 1967 to 1984.
Henderson received a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the Idaho-based Northwest Nazarene College (now Northwest Nazarene University) in 1941. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts from Olivet College, a Master of Arts from the University of Chicago and a Doctor of Education from Columbia University.
As most nurses were taught in a hospital setting at that time, Henderson first began her career at the Grace Hospital School of Nursing in Detroit, where she was a faculty member. In 1955, she joined the faculty at the North Carolina School of Nursing and began an illustrious career in higher education.
Henderson became an associate professor of nursing at the University of Cincinnati and then assistant dean of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Western Reserve (now Case Western Reserve University) before coming to Kent State in 1967 as the first female director of the nursing program. The Board of Trustees of Kent State University had just received approval to develop the nursing program, and three years later, when the School of Nursing was established in 1970, Henderson was named dean.
“As the American health care system has become increasingly more complex, it has become more and more important for nurses to have baccalaureate degrees,” notes Henderson in a Record-Courier article dated Sept. 5, 1979. “A growing number of nurses are [also] working toward master’s degrees and doctoral degrees.”
During her tenure, she expanded the program significantly, increasing faculty from four to 60 and graduating more than 1,700 students with bachelor’s degrees. Henderson also introduced a master’s program in 1977; 77 students had graduated from it by the time of her death seven years later. It was the fourth of its kind in Ohio and only the second in Northeast Ohio.
The Ohio Senate recognized Henderson in a 1984 resolution stating, “as a result of her strong belief in baccalaureate nursing education and her unwavering commitment to excellence, the school and its graduate have become recognized and accepted throughout the nation.”
As the program grew, so did the needs of its faculty and students. From 1967-1978, they shuffled from Lowry Hall to the old Health Center to Franklin Hall. Finally, in 1978, they moved into a newly constructed facility built specifically for the needs of the School of Nursing. Henderson played a large role in the design of the $3 million building to ensure that it would accommodate the current and future needs of the program.
