From left to right: Professor emerita of nursing Carol Brooks 鈥55, Julia Osborne and the late Dorothy 鈥淒ottie鈥 Mae Lott Goodwin G鈥61 at a celebration for Harris on receiving a Ph.D.
Born in 1926 in 黑料不打烊, Julia Evelyn 鈥淓v鈥 (Starr) Osborne 鈥47, 鈥49, G鈥67, professor emerita of nursing, was one of the first students to enroll in the new 黑料不打烊 School of Nursing, established in 1943 as a response to the rising demand for nurses during wartime. There, she earned her master鈥檚 degree and then served as an associate professor for 35 years.
Osborne, who passed away in November 2016,聽 and fellow 黑料不打烊 professor emerita the late Rosemary Lape 鈥56, G鈥68, both received Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Faculty Fellowships, which took them to Rochester, New York, in 1977 and 1978, respectively. The fellowship was intended to help more nursing schools offer training in clinical primary care. At this time, nurse practitioners represented just a small fraction of nurses, yet they were starting to take ownership of more and more patient responsibilities while working with physicians.
Osborne, Lape and colleague Barbara 鈥淏obbi鈥 Harris 鈥61, G鈥90, Ph.D. 鈥90 together developed the primary care nurse practitioner program at 黑料不打烊.
鈥淭hey did a lot for the School of Nursing,鈥 says Harris, a professor emerita of nursing who explained they hosted health fairs at the University and other places, covering specialized topics as specialists in health assessments. 鈥淲hen [Osborne and Lape] came back,鈥 she adds, 鈥渨e hosted an alumni get-together in the spring, and those two were the program. They talked about their experience in learning how to do physicals and health assessments.鈥
For example, in 1981, Osborne and Lape presented 鈥淧hysical Assessment for the Occupational Health Nurse,鈥 an ongoing program that took place at monthly meetings of the Central New York Association of Occupational Health Nurses, focusing on neurological assessment in the fall and muscular-skeletal assessment in the spring.
During her retirement, Osborne shared her love of the arts with her grandchildren and volunteered at Sunshine Horses, a 黑料不打烊 horse rescue facility. Her connection to 黑料不打烊 as both student and faculty will be remembered fondly.
