Elizabeth Seelye Bixler Torrey, 1899-1976
Dean 1944-1959

Elizabeth Seelye Bixler Torrey was born in New London, Connecticut, October 29, 1899. She married Norman L. Torrey in 1958. Elizabeth Bixley graduated from Smith College with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1922 and from Radcliffe College with a Master of Arts in Archeology (M.A.) in 1924. She obtained her Bachelor of Nursing (B.N.) degree from Yale University in 1927. In 1944 she received the honorary degree of Master of Arts (M.A.) from Yale University.

Positions held

• Night Supervisor (Assistant, 1927), New Haven Hospital
• Instructor (Assistant, 1937), Yale University School of Nursing, 1927-1928
  
• Head Nurse, Women's Clinic, New Haven Dispensary, 1928-1930
  
• Supervisor of Nursing, Psychiatric Clinic, Institute of Human Relations, Yale University
• Assistant Professor, Yale University School of Nursing, 1930-1934
  
• Assistant Director of Nursing, New Haven Hospital, 1934-1935
  
• Educational Director, Worcester, Massachusetts State Hospital, 1935-1937
  
• Director of Nursing, New York Hospital Westchester Division in White Plains, 1937-1941
  
• Director of Nursing, Norwich, Connecticut State Hospital, 1941-1944
• Third Dean and Professor, Yale University School of Nursing, 1944-1959, Emeritus, 1959-1976
  
• Founding President of the Visiting Nurses' Association, Jaffrey, New Hampshire, 1965-1973
  
• President, Association of Collegiate Schools of Nursing, 1946-1952
  
• Neuropsychiatric Advisory Committee
  
• Veterans Administration, 1946, Board of Directors, National League for Nursing, 1952-1957

Honors

• Distinguished Alumna Award, Yale University School of Nursing, 1973

Helen Varney Burst, Yale University School of Nursing: A Brief History, 1998.

 

Elizabeth Bixler, student nurse (circa. 1926)

Elizabeth Bixler with veterans, Topeka, Kansas meeting, 1946

Send comments to janene.batten@yale.edu
© Copyright 2008. Yale University. All rights reserved.