If you are reading this article, please consider contributing to the Durrant-Pinterich Pioneers of Nursing Education Endowment Fund. Your support is very much appreciated and will help prepare the next generation of nurse educators!

Nearly 50 years ago, the first cohort of students began classes at the brand-new Southwestern Adventist University Nursing Program. Since its inception, the SWAU Nursing Program has been committed to providing quality, Christ-centered education to prepare nurses for service. The nurses produced by the SWAU Department of Nursing have gone on to serve across Texas, the United States, and all over the world. They spread hope, love, and encouragement to millions of people, acting as the healing hands of Jesus to those who might otherwise not feel His touch. The skills, resources, and acumen of these nurses have been honed and sharpened by steady application of concepts, hours of study, and dedicated instruction.

To instruct and guide these nursing students has always required special nurse educators: ones ready to meet the challenges of teaching healthcare in an ever-changing climate. The burgeoning program would need educators that had not only knowledge, but wisdom; not just the technical skills, but understanding how to communicate those skills to others. SWAU has had many such educators over the life the Nursing Department, who stand on the strong shoulders of those who came before them. In that lineage, two women stand out as pillars of nursing education in Keene and Johnson Country:  Laurice Durrant and Shirley Pinterich. Much has been said about these pioneers of Adventist nursing education over the years, but in order to face the obstacles and challenges of today, it is always worth taking a look at those who have come before; to draw inspiration, courage, and hope from their experience and commitment to nursing education. 

            Shirley J. Pinterich moved to Keene in 1967 with her husband, Carl, where she became a professor and was pivotal in the founding of the SWAU Nursing program. When she arrived at then Southwestern Union College, nursing students were only able to complete two years of

nursing requirements before transferring to Union College’s nursing program in Denver, Colorado. When the Nursing program began in 1975, Pinterich became its first chair, serving for two years before taking a position at the newly established Huguley Memorial Hospital as Vice President of Nursing. Even while working at Huguley, Pinterich still found time to serve students as a part-time professor. She continued to support nursing students and nursing education even after retiring, helping coach young nurses and guide them in their service learning. She advocated for and encouraged the creation of scholarship opportunities for nursing students, and until per passing in 2008, she remained a bullwork of the community and a steadfast believer in the power that Christ-centered nurses could bring to their patients. Education was Pinterich’s passion, feeling that God had given her the mission of helping to teach and mentor young nurses.

            Laurice Durrant became chair of the SWAU Department of Nursing in 1977, taking the reins from Pinterich. She continued the tradition of passionate nurse educators for the next eight years, establishing the RN-to-BS program in 1981: a streamlined educational process for registered nurses to attain their bachelor’s degree. Durrant’s dedication to education stretches beyond the borders of the United States. She has supported educational programs in her home country of Egypt to help young girls (who are often overlooked due to financial reasons) obtain a quality education.  She has also initiated and sponsored at least three different scholarship endowments at SWAU, one of which pertains to her beloved Nursing field.

            These pioneers of nursing education have devoted their lives to following the path God has laid before them: to instruct and prepare the next generation of nurses for service. Yet today, we face a challenge: fewer and fewer nurse educators. Many institutions of higher education across the country have been turning away potential nursing students. One of the factors in these rejections in the inability to accommodate the high number of applicants with sufficient nursing teachers. This disparity is felt especially hard in our Hispanic communities, who make up 40% of our Texas population, while only comprising 12% of nursing faculty in universities.

            Just like the nurse educators before us, Southwestern has seen the need in our community, and has moved to address it. The Department of Nursing, under the leadership of Nursing Department Chair Dr. Kerrie Kimbrow and Dr. Terri Gibson, the MSN Project Director, has begun the creation of a Master of Science in Nursing Education program. They have also established a scholarship endowment fund, aptly named after the two nurse educators this article has celebrated, Durrant and Pinterich. The endowment seeks to raise the initial amount of $25,000, which will be matched annually over five years. The ultimate goal of this endowment is to provided future MSN students with financial support as they continue their education to add to the nursing educator workforce.

Both Dr. Durrant and Ms. Pinterich believed in supporting nurses and nurse educators, leading the way through deed and action to allow as many as wanted to be able to receive a quality education. As we continued to follow in their footsteps, may we be reminded of why they did what they did: because they felt called by God.