AAHN Nursing History Champions

Welcome to the AAHN Nursing History Champions site. We are happy you are here and look forward to facilitating your role in nursing history education.

The Nursing History Champion role supports the growing recognition that a strong understanding of nursing’s historical foundations is essential to preparing thoughtful, informed, and professionally grounded nurses.

To optimize your Nursing History Champion’s impact, AAHN offers education, interpersonal support, and scholarship opportunities related to teaching and studying nursing history.

Your Nursing History Champion’s role and responsibilities could include:

• Collaborating with colleagues to incorporate historical perspectives into teaching and learning activities across courses and programs.
• Sharing AAHN resources and professional development opportunities with faculty.
• Coordinating student engagement with nursing history scholarship and conference participation.
• Encouraging faculty collaboration on teaching and research projects grounded in historical perspectives.
• Serving as a resource for students and faculty interested in nursing history
• Supporting initiatives, events, or projects that critically engage with and share the heritage of your nursing program, department, school, or college.

AAHN membership for your Nursing History Champion provides access to:

• Teaching History webinars which provide practical guidance and resources to integrate nursing history into curricula—whether through a dedicated course or by embedding historical content across existing courses.
• Regular online networking groups.
• Virtual Speaker Series webinars focused on nursing history research.
• Free Educational Resources
• Opportunities to present at the AAHN annual conference highlighting nursing and healthcare history research and pedagogy.
• A subscription to Nursing History Review, the leading journal of nursing history scholarship.
• Research funding awards

Nursing history is more than a retrospective exercise—it provides critical context for contemporary practice, policy, leadership, and professional identity. By examining the evolution of nursing roles, education, and systems of care, students gain a deeper appreciation for the values, challenges, and progress that continue to shape the profession today.

Please email me if you have any questions.

Sheri Tesseyman, PhD, RN
[email protected]
AAHN Board of Directors, Chair, Membership Committee
American Association for the History of Nursing