School of Nursing Bulletins

The school has offered many different degrees over the years. The first students, high school graduates, received a diploma after a three-year program that cost just $100 per year. In 1938, the school began offering baccalaureate degrees to students who had completed two years of college along with the nursing curricula. In 1944, the school began a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education degree program. In 1953, it added a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program. Five years later, under the leadership of Thelma Ingles, The Duke School of Nursing was one of the first schools in the nation to offer a graduate nursing program.

On January 2, 1931, the school opened its doors to its first class of 24 undergraduate students under the direction of Dean Bessie Baker and instructor Ann Henshaw Gardiner.

In 1984, as a part of Duke University’s retrenchment plan, the last class of BSN students graduated. The graduate programs also ended in 1984, re-opening in 1985 with a new curriculum and focus on research. In response to the increasing nursing shortage, in 2002 the school once again began offering a BSN degree – this time as an accelerated, 16-month degree offered to students already holding an undergraduate degree. In 2006, the school accepted the first students into the new PhD program. In 2008, the school launched the first Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree program in North Carolina to prepare nurses for leadership positions in clinical care.