The School of Nursing graduated its first "distance learning" nurse midwives at Winter Commencement, Dec. 20, 1995. The innovative program--designed to bring primary care to underserved areas of Pennsylvania--permitted three students to earn masters' degrees by traveling to two-way teleconferencing sites in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. For 16 months, three graduate students "attended" classes at Penn, studied independently at home, used sophisticated videotapes and personal computers to transmit papers, assignments and messages, and learned at the side of nurse midwives and nurse practitioners in their own communities. The Nurse Midwifery Distance Learning Program was funded by grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Bureau of Maternal and Child Health.

Pictured, left to right, are graduates Pam Kozick of Dillsburg, Pa., and Lila Brooks Fritz of York, Pa.; Sister Teresita Hinnegan, distance learning program director; and Dr. Joyce Thompson, professor and director of nurse midwifery at the School of Nursing. The third graduate (not pictured) was Carol Manspeaker of Pittsburgh.