Claire M. Fagin, PhD, RN, FAAN, Former Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Passes Away at Age 97

Newswise — PHILADELPHIA (January 16, 2024) – Claire M. Fagin, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and Dean Emerita of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), passed away at the age of 97. She served as dean of Penn Nursing for 15 years from 1977 to 1992, during which time she transformed the school into a world-renowned education, research, and clinical development enterprise, established landmark education programs and increased the number of standing faculty seven-fold. In addition to her deanship, Fagin served as the interim president of the University of Pennsylvania from July 1, 1993, to June 30, 1994. She will be remembered for myriad accomplishments, including the distinction of being one of the first women to lead an Ivy League institution and being the first female interim president of Penn, in 1993-94.

“Today the Penn Nursing community and the wider nursing, University, and health care community remembers a transformational leader and celebrates her incredible life and accomplishments,” said Penn Nursing Dean Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN. “Claire Fagin’s impact cannot be understated. She was a friend, mentor, teacher, and inspiration to me, our students, our faculty, and so many others. As we mourn her loss, we also remember her kindness, humor, and generosity. She touched generations of lives, and her impact and legacy lives on in each of us.”

A native New Yorker, Fagin received her higher education from schools in New York. Her Bachelor of Science was from Wagner College School of Nursing in Staten Island; her Master of Arts was from Teacher's College at Columbia University; and her Doctor of Philosophy was from New York University. She served as the director of the graduate program in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing at New York University from 1965 to 1969. She then served as chair and professor of the Department of Nursing at the Herbert Lehman College of the City University of New York from 1969 to 1977, during which time she developed a new baccalaureate nursing program that prepared nurses for primary care practice.

Fagin’s career blended an interest in consumer health with professional health and nursing issues, and she was known for her efforts to create a new paradigm for access and quality. Among her many accomplishments were her appointments as director of the Health Professions Institute of Lehman College and the Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in 1975, president of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, member of the Institute of Medicine, advisor for the World Health Organization, and as the first female board member of Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Fagin served as the first director of the John A. Hartford Foundation National Program, Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity. This program supports Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence, schools and institutions looking to enhance their geriatric expertise, and pre-doctoral and post-doctoral scholars. As a result of her expert leadership and guidance, the program generated a ground swell of interest in geriatric nursing, made a difference in geriatric health care, and changed the face of geriatric nursing faculty.

Fagin became dean of Penn Nursing in 1977 and set the school on a course of excellence in teaching, research and clinical practice. She developed landmark education programs, including the Doctor of Nursing Science, the first nursing doctorate in the Ivy League, and a PhD program. She opened the first center for nursing research in the country in 1980, drawing millions of dollars in external grants.

Under her leadership, Penn Nursing had more faculty in the American Academy of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine than any other nursing school. She established some of the first endowed chairs for nursing, dual degrees and minors, and the Center for the Study of the History of Nursing. She supported faculty as they increased the number of grants from National Institutes of Health and publications in prestigious interdisciplinary journals (e.g. New England Journal of Medicine.) Under her leadership, Penn Nursing became a well-known and respected institution. She challenged paradigms and opened new frontiers to nursing students, practitioners, and scientists.

Fagin was a member of the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Nursing, the Century Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She served on the Board of Trustees of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. Fagin was also the editor of several acclaimed books in the fields of psychiatric and pediatric nursing, including Family Centered Nursing in Community Psychiatry: Treatment in the Home and Nursing in Child Psychiatry. She wrote numerous scholarly articles and papers. Fagin had extensive and progressive experience in nursing, and in health care and educational administration. Through teaching, practice, consultation, and participation in the formation of health policy Fagin had a vital impact in both public and private sectors. Her 1996 dissertation, "The Effects of Maternal Attendance during Hospitalization on the Behavior of Young Children" (also known as rooming in), received national attention. It helped to permanently change attitudes and rules about parental visitation in pediatric facilities. Later research surveyed changes in hospital visitation, studied cost effectiveness of nursing research and nurse practitioners, and investigated nursing home reform.

During her career, Fagin received fifteen honorary doctoral degrees as well as the prestigious Honorary Recognition Award of the American Nurses Association. She was an Honorary Fellow of the UK Royal College of Nursing, was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 2010 and was named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing in 1998. She was also named the 2012 honoree for the Guggenheim Honor Cup by the Penn Club of New York.

To honor her best scholarly qualities, Penn Nursing established the Claire M. Fagin Distinguished Researcher Award in 2003, and in 2006 the University named the nursing education building in her honor as Claire M. Fagin Hall.

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Editor’s Note: The family asks for privacy at this time and will not be available for interviews. Penn Nursing administrators and faculty will be available for interviews to discuss the impact of Dr. Fagin’s work and leadership has had on nursing and education. If you are interested in an interview, or would like to receive a high-resolution photo(s) of Dr. Fagin, please contact Ed Federico in Penn Nursing’s Office of Marketing and Communications.