Henderson's commitment to teaching was evident as early as 1924, when she accepted her first position as an

instructor. In 1934, she joined the nursing faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she had
earned bachelor of science and master of arts degrees in nursing education, and where she would remain for
the next fourteen years. During that period, she revised Bertha Harmer's Textbook of the Principles and Practice
of Nursing, which was published in 1939 and has been widely adopted by schools of nursing.

In 1953, Henderson accepted a position at Yale University School of Nursing as research associate for a funded
project designed to survey and assess the status of nursing research in the United States. Following completion
of the survey, Henderson was funded to direct the Nursing Studies Index Project from 1959 to 1971. The
outcome of this project was publication of the four-volume Nursing Studies Index, the first annotated index of
nursing research. Henderson was subsequently named research associate emeritus at Yale University, and at
age 75, began a new phase of her career focusing on international teaching and speaking engagements. In
1979, the Connecticut Nurses Association established the Virginia Henderson Award for outstanding
contributions to nursing research. Henderson was the first to receive this honor.

For more than seventy years, Henderson has been a visible force for nursing across numerous geographic
boundaries. A recipient of many awards, the Sigma Theta Tau International Library is named in Henderson's
honor. Over time, she has advocated humane and holistic care for patients, raised important issues in health
care, authored one of the most accurate definitions of nursing, promoted nursing research as the basis for
nursing knowledge, and above all, represented nursing with dignity, honor, and grace.

ANA