Anne Boykin grew up in Little Chute, Wisconsin, the second oldest of six children in a large extended family. She is married to Stephen Staudenmeyer and they have four children, Lisa, Christopher, Ingrid and Anna. She completed her baccalaureate degree at Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She practiced nursing at both a community hospital and the Veteran’s Administration hospital prior to pursuing graduate study at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. After earning her Masters in Nursing, she taught at various colleges and universities. It was at this time that a pivotal question began to occupy her thoughts---“Does nursing have its own content to be taught? ” It was the passion to answer this question which caused her to accept an administrative position as Director and then founding Dean of the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, and to conduct research in acute care settings focused on creating caring environments.
For the past 30 years, she has committed her professional life trying to articulate and make visible the living of caring in nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research. Her tenure as Dean was devoted to co-creating with faculty an innovative, caring-based nursing program. An outgrowth of this work was the 1994 National League for Nursing publication of Living a Caring-Based Program. This book describes the evolution and living of a caring-based program, grounded in foundational beliefs and values of person, and centered in caring.
Dr. Boykin and Dr. Savina Schoenhofer both participated in the development of this program. When this work was completed, they recognized the necessity of continuing to develop and structure ideas relevant to a full understanding of nursing as a discipline and profession. This work led to their grand theory, Nursing As Caring: A Model for Transforming Practice. Early forms of the theory were first published in 1990 and 1991, followed by the publication of the theory in 1993 and a revision with the addition of an epilogue in 2001. This book is now available for free download at www.nursingascaring.com.
Her 2013 book, Health Care System Transformation for Nursing and Health Care Leaders: Implementing a Culture of Caring (Springer Publishing Company, 2014), co-authored with Savina Schoenhofer and Kathleen Valentine, is theoretically grounded in the values of Nursing as Caring. It describes use of the model, The Dance of Caring Persons, as a guide for transforming the culture of healthcare systems.
Dr. Boykin has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to the advancement of knowledge in the discipline. Her scholarly work is centered in caring as the grounding for nursing. She served as editor for numerous other books and authored many book chapters and articles. Within the International Association for Human Caring she has served as President-Elect, President, and member of the nominating committee. She served as coeditor of the International Journal for Human Caring from 1996-1999.
She is currently Professor Emeritus and Director of the Anne Boykin Institute for the Advancement of Caring in Nursing in the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University. This Institute provides global leadership for nursing education, practice and research grounded in caring; promotes the valuing of caring across disciplines; and supports the caring mission of the college.
A copy of Dr. Boykin’s curriculum vitae can be found here: https://nursing.fau.edu/uploads/docs/1262/ABoykin%20Current%20CV%202.27.14.pdf.
