Dr. Isabel MacRae

The UVic publication: The Ring reported that the first calendar entry for the School of Nursing, created by MacRae, read “the wholeness of man is characterized by organization. If the integrity of this is disrupted, man’s wellbeing is disrupted as his pattern of function loses its predictability … [further,] the nursing profession cannot be implemented … without regard for the social system.” David Henn (Hispanic and Italian Studies) responded, “I find something kind of eerie and clockwork-orangy about the language … I would expect to read this in the handbook of a political commissar.”  

MacRae responded, “I’m not a Communist … a nurse must help a person through the experience of ill health, and this includes an awareness of the patient’s social needs and of assistance available to him.” MacRae further explained that her nurses come from a widely-varied background, ranging in age from 25 to one who “has seen her 40th birthday,” and many of them were married. “They are mature in their years and attitudes, and as academics they are more like graduates, being more goal-directed,” she said. “Because they don’t have backgrounds similar to most undergraduates in Arts and Science programs, that makes them an interesting group.” (The Ring: Volume 2, Number 12, Sept. 7, 1976).  

According to Dr. Janet Storch, it was MacRae who planted the seeds for distributed learning when she noted that it was time to move from curriculum research to delivery of software in nursing education that could be used country-wide. By 1980, the UVic School of Nursing had developed its first credit nursing course using print, interactive cable, TV, and telephone to reach students across BC. Clearly, MacRae was a visionary who introduced the principles of access to higher education for women across BC to the academic setting. Her vision has continued to the present day through the partnerships that UVic has formed with its college partners, and over 4,000 nurses have graduated from school’s Post RN Diploma Program throughout its 45-year history.