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Madeleine M. Leininger graduated from St. Anthony’s Hospital School of Nursing in Denver, Colorado, in 1948. During her training, she was a member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, a federally-funded program to increase the numbers of nurses being trained to meet anticipated needs during World War II. She received the BS degree from Mount St. Scholastica College (later Benedictine College) in Atchison, Kansas, in 1950, and earned the equivalent of a BSN through her studies in biological sciences, nursing administration, teaching and curriculum at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, during 1951-1954. This prepared her for graduate studies (Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing) at The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, where she received her MSN in 1954. She then studied at the University of Cincinnati, pursuing further graduate studies in curriculum, social sciences and nursing (1955-58), and directed the Child Psychiatric Nursing Program as an Associate Professor of Nursing (1954-1959.) She pursued doctoral studies beginning in 1960; during this time she was awarded a National League of Nursing Fellowship for fieldwork in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea, where she studied the convergence and divergence of human behavior in two Gadsup villages. Dr. Leininger received a PhD in Cultural and Social Anthropology from the University of Washington in 1966.
Dr. Leininger’s academic career is impressive. Beginning as Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Cincinnati in 1954, she went on to the University of Colorado (1966-1969) where she held a joint appointment in the College of Nursing and the Department of Anthropology and directed the Nurse Scientist Program. From 1969-1974 she was Dean and Professor of Nursing at the University of Washington where she also held a Lecturer appointment in the Department of Anthropology. At the University of Utah (1974-1981) she was Dean and Professor of Nursing, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, and Director of the Center for Nursing Research and of the Doctoral and Transcultural Nursing Programs. While at Wayne State University (1981-1985) she was Professor of Nursing, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, and Director of the Transcultural Nursing Program and of the Center for Health Research. From 1995 to present she has been an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Nursing at the University of Nebraska. At present, Dr. Leininger’s titles include Professor Emeritus of Nursing, Wayne State University College of Nursing; Adjunct Clinical Professor at University of Nebraska College of Nursing; Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing; and Distinguished Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (Australia). She was honored as a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing (1998), and holds honorary degrees from Benedictine College (LHD, 1975), University of Indianapolis (DS, 1990), and University of Kuopio, Finland (PhDNSc, 1991). The Transcultural Nursing Society, founded by Dr. Leininger in 1974, “...continues to serve as an important annual forum to bring nurses together worldwide with common and diverse interests to improve care to people of diverse and similar cultures. Members are
active in consultation, teaching, research, direct care and in policy-making in national and transnational arenas” (TCN Website, www.tcns.org). Dr. Leininger, credited with saying, “Caring is the essence of nursing,” established the Caring Conferences in 1978 as a forum for nurse scholars interested in advancing caring knowledge to gather for formal presentations, informal dialogue, and to evolve research related to caring sciences. This once small group has evolved into the International Association for Human Caring (IAHC). All this began in the 1950’s, when Madeleine Leininger became fascinated with anthropology, finding many concepts she believed were pertinent to nursing. She became the first professional nurse to receive a PhD in cultural and social anthropology, and her vision of the “blending” of two fields, nursing and anthropology, led to her “Culture Care Diversity and Universality: A Worldwide Theory of Nursing.” As the mother of transcultural nursing and founder of the Transcultural Nursing Society, she has advanced transcultural nursing through education, research, administration, and practice. Dr. Leininger was in demand for over 35 years as a consultant and speaker on issues relating to transcultural nursing and human caring in education and research, and continued such engagements through 2011.