Duxbury, Mitzi

Duxbury.jpg In 1977, Mitzi Duxbury came to the University of Minnesota as director of graduate studies and associate professor in the School of Nursing. In 1979, she was appointed assistant dean for Graduate Studies. She left the University of Minnesota in 1983 and moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago as the Dean of their School of Nursing.

Interview Abstract
Mitzi Duxbury begins by describing her background, including her education and why she went into nursing. She discusses her experiences as a nursing diploma student; working at Cook County Hospital as a diploma student; and working as a nurse at Fort Riley Hospital in Kansas and at the Washington, D.C. General Hospital. She also describes her experiences as a baccalaureate student at the University of Wisconsin, working at the March of Dimes; and as assistant dean for graduate students at the University of Minnesota. She describes her graduate work; relations between nurses and doctors in the different hospitals in which she worked; the techniques and technologies she worked with as a nurse; developing contracts with North Dakota University for the UMN School of Nursing; the building of Unit F; lobbying for the School of Nursing budget at the state Legislature; and working with the World Health Organization. She discusses midwifery as a nursing specialty; nursing autonomy; the efforts to establish a Ph.D. program in nursing at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing; faculty research and funding; and the Committee for Long Range Planning for the School of Nursing. She also discusses how gender affected her career, and the health care systems of different countries. She talks about Irene Ramey, Ellen Fahey, Lyle French, and other School of Nursing faculty.

Biographical Sketch
Mitzi Duxbury was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. She received her nursing diploma from Madison General Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1952. She worked as a nurse, mostly in obstetrics, from 1952-64 in various locations, including Fort Riley Hospital in Kansas and the Washington, D.C. General Hospital. She received her BS in Nursing in 1966, her MA in Educational Policy in 1970, and her Ph.D. in Educational Administration in 1972, all from the University of Wisconsin. She worked as Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Nursing from 1971-73. From 1972-1976, she worked for the March of Dimes. In 1977, she came to the University of Minnesota as the Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor in the School of Nursing. In 1979, she was appointed Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies and was promoted to Professor. She left the University of Minnesota in 1983 and moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago as the Dean of their School of Nursing.

Interview Transcript
MDuxbury.pdf