Gault, Alma Elizabeth (1891–1981)

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Gault, Alma Elizabeth (1891–1981)

American nurse. Born Alma Elizabeth Gault, Sept 28, 1891, in Fernwood, Ohio; died July 12, 1981, in Columbus, Ohio; graduated from the College of Wooster in OH, 1916; dau. of Nancy Emma (Stark) Gault and Davison Stewart Gault.

As a dean (1944–53) of the Meharry Medical College School of Nursing (historically African-American institution in Nashville, TN), created a baccalaureate program (as well as an accredited diploma school of nursing) and successfully pushed for the school to become the 1st "historically black institution" to be a member of the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Nursing; enrolled in the Vassar Training Camp for Nurses (1918) and in the Philadelphia General Hospital School of Nursing (graduated, 1920); worked as a Philadelphia General Hospital head nurse; appointed the Union Memorial Hospital School of Nursing's director (Baltimore); served as the Memorial Hospital's director of Nursing Service (Springfield, IL); at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN), was employed as a nursing school associate professor (1953), as an acting dean, and as a dean (1965–67), during which time the 1st African-American nursing student enrolled at Vanderbilt; continued to work after retirement (1959). Honors include the proclamation of May 21, 1967 as "Alma Gault Day" by Nashville's mayor (at the time).

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