Margaret E. (Lewis) Hardy (BSN 1960)

Margaret “Marg” E. Hardy was born Margaret Elaine Lewis In Edmonton Alberta on March 20, 1938, the only daughter of Mary and William Lewis (who predeceased her). She died on August 29, 2020, at home with her husband just 2 days after they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

Marg grew up in Ottawa where her father (who died in BC at age 102) became the Canadian Government Censor. She graduated from high school from Usgar Collegiate in Ottawa in 1954, completed her hospital-based nursing training at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) in 1959 (RN) and received her BSN from UBC in 1960. She then did hospital-based nursing at VGH before becoming a Public Health Nurse In Vancouver.

Following a summer travelling in Europe, she and her husband both attended the University of Washington (U of W) where initially she was a teaching and research assistant before receiving an NIH Fellowship. In 1965, she received an MA from the U of W (Major in Nursing, minor in Sociology) and then a PhD in Sociology, receiving it in 1971. For her PhD, (methodology, social psychology, medical sociology, organizations} she undertook what was probably the first computer-assisted research on social interaction (somewhat facilitated by her husband, who recently had completed his PhD in Physiology/Biophysics). Her mini-computer based dissertation research was on Role Stress (Role Overload and inequity).

Marg then was recruited to the faculty of the Boston Univ School of Nursing (BUSON) where the first doctoral programs in nursing were beginning to be organized (she also held a joint appointment in the BU School of Sociology). Marg was recruited to the BUSON to develop CORE nursing courses (with 8 faculty members working under her for the associated seminars). Her emphasis then was on science and empirically-based decision-making for clinical care, for both the large Master’s program (250+ students) and for the new BUSON PhD program. Her teaching also then inctuded research methods utilizing the main-frame computers of that era – long before PC’s became available. She began utilizing a then novel small groups approach in which students took part in large classes but then worked on projects and presented their results in small groups. Her own research in that era was on Theory and Meta Theory, focusing on stress, crisis, and adaptation theories to be utilized by nurses in clinical settings.

In 1973, Marg published a book Theoretical Foundations of Nursing and In 1974, a major “Theory” article in Nursing Research which propelled her into the forefront in “Theory” in Nursing Curricula for both Master’s and Doctoral students in the US and also internationally. Marg was often invited by nursing deans across the US to lead graduate faculty workshops and was often a guest speaker and consultant. In 1978 Marg co-edited (with Mary Conway, Dean of the School of Nursing, Medical College of Georgia) Role Theory: Perspectives for Health Professionals. (Mary herself had originally been brought in to BUSON to head their doctoral program). This book went through two editions and had great international recognition. Marg was recruited by several universities in that era to become a dean of nursing, but she always declined.

In 1977 Marg was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) and subsequently was elected to the AAN Governing Council (1979-84 ). In 1986 Marg was recruited by the University of Rhode Island (URI) to establish a PhD doctoral program in Nursing. At URI She chaired the doctoral program and taught both doctoral and master’s students. She retired from URI in 1993.

MARGARET E HARDY OBITUARY Aug 29th, 2020