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The Thelma Shobe Endowed Chair in Ethics and Spirituality was established at the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing by Thelma Shobe Cook,
a retired Public Health Nurse, in the summer of 2002 in the belief that spirituality should find its rightful place in the science of caring and that the ethical issues of care giving should be considered along with the spiritual challenges.
The task, therefore, became one of identifying both the ethical and spiritual dimensions of patient care and to provide for their implementation where indicated and appropriate in both the education and practice of care givers.
At a School of Nursing Celebration hosted by Dean Kathleen Dracup on November 13, 2002, Patricia Benner, RN, PhD, FAAN was named first Chair Holder of the Thelma Shobe Endowed Chair in Ethics and Spirituality.
In July 2008, Dean Dracup announced that Catherine (Kit) Chesla, RN, DNSc, FAAN, had been selected to succeed Dr. Benner as holder of the Shobe Chair.
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Catherine (Kit) Chesla, RN, DNSc, FAAN
Dr. Chesla is Professor and Vice Chair for Academic Personnel, Department of Family Health Care Nursing, UCSF School of Nursing.
The goals of the Thelma Shobe Chair in Ethics and Spirituality are to identify the spiritual dimensions of nursing practice, and to provide leadership in addressing the ethical and spiritual challenges raised by technological advances in health care. Dr. Sulmasy, in the Second Annual Shobe Lecture defined spirituality broadly: "The primary spiritual questions are these: questions of meaning, questions of value and questions of relationships."
Dr. Chesla's work aligns with the goals of the Shobe Chair through her enduring commitment to explore and illuminate how families,
through their relationships and caring practices heal and hold the person who is ill.
Her work is directed at articulating, and helping others articulate, the practical ethical comportment of patients and families in the face of chronic illness, and the ways in which health care services and structures support or impede their ways of coping with everyday challenges.
Details about Dr. Chesla's current work and publications can be found at:
http://nurseweb.ucsf.edu/www/ffchesk.htm
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Thelma Shobe Cook, RN, BS, MPH
Thelma Shobe Cook, benefactress of the Thelma Shobe Endowed Chair and Thelma Shobe Endowed Lectureship in Ethics and Spirituality,
graduated from St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing, San Francisco, in 1951.
Upon graduation, she entered the baccalaureate program at the UC School of Nursing on the Berkeley Campus,
obtaining her B.S. degree in August 1952. Following the completion of the sixteen-week supervised field study in
January 1953, she obtained her Public Health Nursing Certificate after which she worked the next
twenty-five years as a Public Health Nurse, first with Alameda County Health Department and then with
Oakland Unified Schools. On a leave of absence, she obtained her MPH at UC School of Public Health in 1964.
She retired in 1979 to pursue her own spiritual quest among other interests. |
Mission Statement -- Chair
Thelma Shobe Endowed Chair in Ethics and Spirituality
Within the mission of the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing, the commission of the Thelma Shobe Endowed Chair in Ethics and Spirituality is twofold:
Florence Nightingale viewed spirituality as both intrinsic to human nature and compatible with science. Research during the century following her death has demonstrated the validity of her belief.
Based on current and relevant research, the first mission of the Chair is to identify the spiritual dimensions of nursing practice and to provide leadership for their implementation
where indicated and appropriate in the education and practice of care givers.
Science has provided and continues to provide new and ever-more powerful technologies over the life of human beings and disease processes. The second mission of the Chair is to provide leadership in addressing the question: How should caregivers address the ethical and spiritual challenges raised by the astonishing successes of these exciting discoveries?
Thelma Cook December 16, 2005
Joint Statement
by Patricia Benner and Thelma Shobe Cook:
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