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 in approximately 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, though it remained part of the Faculty of Medicine, until 2000, at which time the Faculty of the Health Sciences was reorganized into the Faculties of Medicine, Dental and Oral Surgery, Nursing, and Public Health—in addition to the Faculty of Health Sciences—all headed by their respective deans.

The Nurse Anesthesia program was the first master’s degree nurse anesthesia program in New York State and second in the United States. The Nurse Midwifery program is one of the oldest in the United States. In June 2004, the School first offered the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DrNP) degree.

References: Columbia University. Columbia University bulletin of information: announcement of the School of Nursing. New York: The University, 1994, page 9.