The Duke community was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Mary T. Champagne, Dean Emerita of Duke University School of Nursing. She leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of leadership, advocacy, and commitment to care. During her tenure as Dean from 1991-2004, she oversaw an important period of grow and development in the School of Nursing. 
Mary Thomson Champagne was born in 1946. She first attended Jose State College where she earned a BSN in 1968. She then served in the Peace Corps from 1968 to 1971. While in the Peace Corps, she worked at the Hospital of Nursing in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan. In 1975, Champagne graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with an MSN and, in 1981, with a PhD.
She came to Duke in 1991 when she was appointed the new Dean of School of Nursing (SON). She arrived at Duke at a critical moment. During the 1980s, Duke's Nursing program was re-organized and new curriculum was developed. In 1984, the final class of students from the nursing baccalaureate program graduated. Beginning in 1991, under Champagne's leadership, Duke SON underwent a period of growth.
In 1995, Duke SON began the first-ever online, distance-based, graduate level program for nurses who worked in rural parts of North Carolina. Duke SON collaborated with the Southern Regional Area Health Education Center, East Carolina University, hospitals, and physicians to recruit nurses interested in becoming family nurse practitioners to provide primary care services in rural and underserved areas. In 2002, Duke's SON first offered an Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) degree, a sixteen-month program open to students with an undergraduate degree in another field or subject.
When Champagne retired as dean in 2004, Duke SON's faculty had grown from five full time employees to thirty-eight, and student enrollment grew from fifty students in 1991 to 374 students in 2003.
She was also a great researcher and clinician dedicated to improving the health of the community. Much of her work focused on quality of care and safely and improving health in low-income seniors living in subsidized housing in Durham.
We are honored to preserve Dean Champagne’s personal papers at the Archives. Please contact us to access these materials.