Louise McManus

(Rachel) Louise McManus (1896 – May 29, 1993) was the first nurse to earn a Ph.D. She established schools of nursing in college and helped to develop nationally standardized methods for nursing licensure in the United States.

Education Louise McManus earned her nursing degree at the Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing in 1921. She completed bachelor's (1925), master's (1927) and doctoral (1946) degrees at Columbia University's Teachers College, where she earned a PhD in educational research, becoming the first nurse to acquire a PhD. She also served on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Armed Services.

Awards and honors Columbia University Bicentennial Award Florence Nightingale International Red Cross Society Citation and Medal Mary Adelaide Nutting Award for Leadership 1994: Inductee, National Women's Hall of Fame

In recognition of her contributions to the field of nursing, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing established the R. Louise McManus Award and the Meritorious Service Award. The R. Louise Mcmanus Medal was established to recognize distinguished long-standing contributions to the field of nursing.

The Library at the Center for Nursing at the Foundation of New York State Nurses was dedicated in her honor with an endowment by the Nursing Education Alumni Association of Teachers College (TCNEAA). In 1929, she married a widower named John Hugh McManus who had four daughters and two sons. Together they had a daughter, Joan, bringing the total number of children to seven. One of her stepsons was George Boles McManus, who became a senior administrator at the Central Intelligence Agency. Her husband died suddenly in 1934.