Mary T. Champagne, dean emerita of the Duke University School of Nursing, passed away on December 14. She was 79 years old.
After earning her bachelor’s degree in nursing from San Jose State University in 1968, Dr. Champagne became a volunteer with the Peace Corps. In this role, she traveled to Lashkar Gar, Afghanistan, where she taught, co-directed, and later directed the Lashkar Gar School of Nursing. Following her return to the United States, Dr. Champagne worked as an intensive care unit and emergency department nurse before earning her master’s degree and Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Champagne began her career in academia at the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska. She then transitioned to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she became the chair of the department of adult and geriatric health in the School of Nursing. As a scholar, Dr. Champagne studied pain management, aspects of recovery, emergency care, elder care, care for the chronically ill, and nursing graduate education administration.
In 1991, Dr. Champagne was named dean of the Duke University School of Nursing. During her tenure as dean, she helped reintroduce an accelerated bachelor’s degree program in nursing, established a Ph.D. program in nursing, and championed online education. Dr. Champagne stepped down from her deanship in 2004, but remained on the faculty as an associate professor and senior fellow of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. She was promoted to full professor in 2006 and was named the Laurel Chadwick Professor in 2009. Dr. Champagne retired from Duke in 2016.