In Memoriam

Nursing program founder Evelyn Cohelan dies

Evelyn Cohelan, professor emerita of nursing, died April 28 of heart failure at her home in Walnut Creek, California. She was the first chair of Mason’s Department of Nursing, the nucleus of what is now the School of Nursing in the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS).

Cohelan was recruited to Mason in 1973 to establish the university’s nursing program. During her tenure, the BSN and MSN programs were launched in 1974 and 1978, respectively, and enrollment grew from 96 to 760.

Cohelan helped create what has become the largest baccalaureate nursing program in Virginia. Today, the program produces approximately 200 new entry-level nurses, 85 master’s prepared nurses, and 10 doctoral graduates each year.

“Dr. Cohelan was a pioneer nurse educator who worked with colleagues from around the country to define the standards for a baccalaureate nursing education and bring those standards to Mason,” says Shirley Travis, CHHS dean. “She worked tirelessly and with great dignity, charm, and caring. She laid a path that is now well traveled by the thousands of nursing students who have graduated from Mason.”

Even though Cohelan retired from Mason in 1981, she maintained strong ties with the nursing program. She initiated an endowed faculty leadership award in the School of Nursing in 1999. The award annually recognizes a junior nursing faculty member who demonstrates educational leadership.

Cohelan held a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in psychiatric nursing from the University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate from the University of California, San Francisco.

Her family asks that memorial contributions be sent to the George Mason University Foundation in support of the Evelyn E. Cohelan Faculty Leadership Award in Nursing.