The School of Nursing was founded in 1892 by the Presbyterian Hospital Board of Managers as the Training School for Nurses.  It became the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing circa 1904 and in 1928 moved with Presbyterian Hospital to the new Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in northern Manhattan. 

Responsibility for the School’s educational program was assumed by the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1935. This relationship was formalized in 1937 when the University established the Department of Nursing of the Faculty of Medicine, at which time the Director of the School became the Associate Dean for Nursing.  However, most of the School’s budget was still funded by Presbyterian Hospital which also continued to own and operate the School’s physical plant.  In 1974, the Dept. of Nursing became the Columbia University School of Nursing and its head assumed the title of Dean.

The Alumnae Association of the Presbyterian Hospital Training School for Nurses was established in 1899. It would later be called The Columbia University-Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association. Nearly a hundred years later, the School of Nursing created a new alumni organization, the Columbia University School of Nursing Alumni Association, which was directly under its control. Both organizations are active as of the writing of this finding aid (2018).