by Nancy Creason (60BSN)
When the request for mentor stories came, I immediately thought of my own experience with Dr. Mary Kelly Mullane going way back to the 1960s.
I graduated with my BSN in 1960 after five years of hard work. I think I was at work at the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital for maybe a month when I had a call to an appointment with Dr. Mullane, who was dean of the Iowa College of Nursing for most of my program. At this meeting, she suggested I think about graduate school. My response was “I have had enough of school for now.” She said fine, but if I change my mind to let her know.
I went on to work in Chicago where I saw much more poor nursing practice than I thought could exist. I decided if I wanted to fix that I had to go back to school to teach. By this time, Dr. Mullane was dean at the University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC) College of Nursing, so I called her. She invited me to lunch, where we discussed schools with master’s programs that interested me. From that discussion, I went on to Wayne State University, where I graduated in 1964.
Dr. Mullane again entered the picture, inviting me to teach at UIC because she “knew what new master’s grads needed,” so I went there and had jam-packed years of learning to be a faculty member. I was assigned to co-teach and share an office with Marie Trava King (60MA) who was a great teaching mentor and continued being a friend and colleague until her death just a year ago.
When I was leaving UIC in 1966 to move to Michigan to be married, Dr. Mullane announced at a faculty meeting that I would take time to marry and raise a family but then would be back getting my PhD. And I did just that, getting my PhD from Michigan in 1977.
Of course, Dr. Mullane was always a reference for me in my various moves, but I really believe had she not put those ideas of further education forward, I probably would not have gone the route I did. I do not even remember how often I would consult with Dr. Mullane when I had a challenging decision to make, even into her retirement. She was always careful to help me weigh my options without telling me what to do. I believe I owe my long teaching career and later my dean experiences to Dr. Mullane’s mentoring. I have always wondered how many others had similar experiences with Dr. Mullane.