Evelyn “Lyn” R. Hayes, University of Delaware Trustees’ Distinguished Professor Emerita of Nursing, passed away on July 17. She was 84 years old.
Dr. Hayes received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing, her master’s degree in public health nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her Ph.D. in higher education from Boston College. She also earned a post-master’s family nurse practitioner certificate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
After a stint teaching at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Hayes joined the faculty of the University of Delaware in 1983. She would remain at the university for more than three decades. Throughout her long tenure, she served as chair of the department of nursing science, director of the Nurse Managed Primary Care Center, and coordinator of the honors nursing program.
Dr. Hayes co-edited and authored eight editions of the textbook Pharmacology: A Nursing Process Approach. In retirement, she founded and sponsored the university’s annual Evelyn Hayes Innovations in Healthcare Symposium, bringing together researchers, clinicians, and legislators to solve pressing public health challenges.
Alongside her work in academia, Dr. Hayes served 23 years in the U.S. Army Reserve Nurse Corps, retiring at the rank of colonel. Her military career culminated as the Individual Mobilization Augmentee to the Chief of Nursing Administration at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.