Our History of Diversity 

People of diverse racial and ethnic ackgrounds have been an integral part of the School of Nursing for many years, beginning with Minnie Hogan-Clemens, the first African-American to graduate from our predecessor, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 1890.

Many students and faculty have joined the School over the ensuing years. In 2002, when Afaf I. Meleis, a native of Egypt, became the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing, her vision for diversity in nursing expanded with the faculty voting to make the Committee on Diversity a Standing Committee of the Senate. Soon after, she appointed Dr. Rosalyn Watts as the first director of Diversity Affairs, followed by Dr. Mary Lou de Leon Siantz as the first Assistant Dean of the Office of Diversity and Cultural Affairs.

To learn more about our long history of diversity, please go to our timeline