May L. Wykle, PhD, RN, FAAN

1. What inspired you to become a nurse?
My father wanted someone in the family to enter the medical field as a doctor or a nurse. After graduation from high school, I went to work as a nurse's aide for a year. The nurse I worked with took me under her wing. We had a patient who had a spiking temperature. I bathed her all night long to keep her temperature down. I wasn't crazy about doing it because it was a lot of work. The next morning the nurse told me that I probably saved a life. It was then I realized what nursing was all about.

2. What are your specialties, and how did you get there?
Now it's geriatric mental health, but I began my career in psychiatric mental health. I worked as a staff nurse at the Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, and then became director of nursing education. I was asked to join the faculty at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, where I am now dean. I am also the director of the University Center on Aging and Health at CWRU, which works on interdisciplinary research to improve the quality of care for older people, education and community service.

I attended the Ruth Brant School of Nursing in Martins Ferry, Ohio, in 1953; graduated in 1956. It was a Diploma School. I later married and had two girls -- one daughter is a geriatric nurse, the other works at the Bureau of Worker's Compensation issues for the state of Ohio. I went on to earn my bachelor's and master's degrees from Case Western Reserve University. I also hold a Ph.D. in education from CWRU and attended the National Institute of Mental Health for a three-year post-doctorate in geriatric mental health. When I received my Ph.D., my father asked me when I was going to medical school. I explained to him the value of having a Ph.D. for a nursing education career.

Psychiatric mental health was not a popular choice for nurses. I like to help people with problems, provide counseling, help them make decisions, watch them come for treatment and leave mentally healthy. I switched to geriatric nursing because I realized the impact on health care of the increasing population of persons over 65. I had taught the psychiatric implications of aging for some time, so it was a natural transition. Aging is so important. As a new dean, I wanted to ensure that there was a "stand-alone" course in caring for older adults in our basic nursing curriculum. We have to teach geriatric care to all nurses. Geriatrics can be very exciting. Twenty years from now the baby boomers will need care. I always tell young people that what you do today to make the quality of life better for aging adults will add to your own longevity and sense of well-being.

3. What do you like best about working in the nursing field?
The interpersonal relationships. We have a wealth of health knowledge, and we can teach someone else about his or her own health. The pathway to health is an educational process. As nurses, we teach for the future health of society. With the nursing shortage, physicians need to be more supportive of nurses because once they finish their work, they need someone competent to care for their patients.

I decided to become a professor because I always believed teaching was important. I want to see students go beyond where they are. When you teach you are also learning. Students think of different ways to do things. You have to determine where your talents are best and apply them. That is what I did. Every now and then I still have the chance to do some counseling with clients. I use similar techniques in my job as dean. It is all about working relationships. Mental health counseling helps people be the best they can be.

4. What, if any, barriers have you had to overcome?
It was mind boggling. First I had to find a school that would accept African Americans. A college in Akron, Ohio, said I would have to find another black student to attend with me because I was not allowed to have a white roommate. I worked one year at Martins Ferry Hospitals as a nurse's aide to prove that I was capable of entering the hospital school of nursing. I found out later that the nursing assistants threatened to strike because I was working there. Some would say to me, "You should work in the kitchen or in housekeeping."

In 1953, I had to deal with segregation. The new director of nursing allowed me to take exams for entering the school. We've come a long way. When people talk about where we, African Americans, are, I always tell them not to forget where we were. Once in a while a patient would get upset that a colored woman was providing care. But my father always taught me to get over those "slights" and do what I needed to do to achieve success. I remember a little boy in pediatrics who kept looking at me. He asked, "Nurse, if you wash, and wash, and wash, and wash, would you be the same color as me?" I laughed and told him that I wouldn't. Again it's about teaching.

There was a time when Case Western Reserve University had no minorities at all in nursing. Today, 8 percent of our students are minorities. Looking at the pictures of students on the wall over the years one would see a spark of color here and there. Not only do we have minority students, but today we have five minority faculty members as well. Recruitment for nurses has to be a national effort. We have to be sure that students are aware of nursing as a career. I hope to someday re-establish the Future Nurses of America Clubs. Nursing got lost somewhere. We have to teach that nursing is autonomous to the medical profession.

5. Do you have a favorite personal story?
I was grading papers once and my daughter kept saying, "Mommy watch me." I put the papers aside to watch her and I dozed off. I was so tired. She woke me up and said, "Mommy it's okay, you can grade your papers." We can all do so many things. But we just have to decide how much time to give to work and to families. It's about balancing.

6. What are your most proud accomplishments?
I was named the Florence Cellar Professor at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing -- the first gerontological nursing chair in the world. I belong to the Academy of Nursing, which is a significant honor in our field. I was named dean of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, where I received my bachelor's and master's degrees. I was the first Pope Eminent Scholar at the Rosalyn Carter Institute at Georgia Southwestern State University, where I had the opportunity to work with former First Lady Rosalyn Carter on caregiving.

7. What are your plans for the future?
I hope to continue working on aging research and serving as a mentor for students in nursing research.

8. What words of wisdom do you have for a student just graduating?
The sky is the limit. Nursing is such a wonderful profession. You can be what you want to be. You may get married, work, have children, choose the ER, become a flight nurse, work with elderly persons, work on a ship or in an office. As a nurse you teach health. You teach the future health of our society.

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