Myrtle Aydelotte

Myrtle Aydelotte (1917 to 2010), known as Kitch, was an American nurse, professor and hospital administrator born in Van Meter, Iowa. She graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Nursing in 1939, served in the Army Nurse Corps in Italy and Africa during World War II, and completed a PhD at Minnesota in 1955. From 1949 she led nursing at the University of Iowa, where she was the first female academic dean and where the nursing program changed from a three year hospital based course to a four year academic program. She became nursing director of the university's hospitals and clinics in 1968, was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1973, and was chief executive of the American Nurses Association from 1977 to 1981. The American Academy of Nursing named her a Fellow in 1976 and a Living Legend in 1994.