Dorothy Smith served as the founding dean of the College of Nursing, that opened in 1956, in the Health Science Center. Her vision for nursing included fostering interdisciplinary education between nursing and medical students, integration of nursing education into the univeristy, and important innovations in nursing such as the involvement of nursing educators in nursing care in the hospital, emphasizing the importance of nurses developing their own plans of care with evaluation of patients, and integrating nursing education and service generally. Her work and innovations provided the basis for modern developments in nursing, including the development of nurse practitioners and clniical nurse specialists.