View source for Mennonite Hospital School of Nursing (Bloomington, Illinois, USA)

The [[Mennonite Hospital (Bloomington, Illinois, USA)|Mennonite Hospital]], [[Bloomington (Illinois, USA)|Bloomington]], IL, organized in 1919, included in its organizing statement provision for a school of nursing, which was established at the very beginning, the first class graduating in 1922.

The hospital and the School of Nursing were under the control of the board of trustees as one institution. Responsibility for the formulation of the curriculum in its relationship to the State Department of Registration and Education and to coordinate the factors which go into the education of Christian nurses fell to the School of Nursing Advisory Committee, composed of the Director of Nursing Service and Education, Educational Director, President of the Board of Trustees, hospital administrator, a member of the Alumni Association, a member of the faculty of the Illinois State Normal University, and a lay member of the Mennonite constituency.

The course in 1956 required 1,374 hours of formal classroom work during the three-year period. Applied nursing experience was gained in the hospital itself. College credit was received for work done at Illinois State Normal University, and there was opportunity for coordination with [[Bluffton University (Bluffton, Ohio, USA)|Bluffton College]], [[Bluffton (Ohio, USA)|Bluffton, Ohio]], to receive a Bachelor's degree in Nursing.

The School of Nursing by 1956 had graduated 439 nurses, many of whom entered some form of full-time Christian service. Graduates were serving in Liberia, British West Africa, Belgian Congo, and Nepal, in addition to the [[United States of America|United States]]. 

The Mennonite College of Nursing, as it became known, formally became part of Illinois State University in July 1999.
{{GAMEO_footer|hp=Vol. 3, pp. 629-630|date=1957|a1_last=Hoover|a1_first=N. O.|a2_last=Kaap|a2_first=T. F.}}