Head and shoulders image of Hester J. Kernan, dean of Nursing, 1974-1980.

Bio/Historical Note: Hester Kernen was born in 1915 in Swan Lake, Manitoba. She received her schooling in Los Angeles, Truax, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg. Kernen graduated from the Regina General Hospital School of Nursing and went on to receive a Public Health Nursing Certificate from McGill University. Public health was her major interest. Professor Kernen continued her education and graduated from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York with a BSc degree and an MA in Nursing Education. Kernen's nursing career led her in many directions, including the Victorian Order of Nurses. as a staff nurse in Winnipeg to the national office in Ottawa. In 1953 Kernen was appointed to the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan School of Nursing, later the College of Nursing. Professor Kernen was appointed dean of the College of Nursing in 1973, a position she held until her retirement in 1980. During this time Kernen was deeply involved in moving the focus of nurses training from the individual hospitals to the university's College of Nursing. Kernen received an honourary life membership to the Canadian Health Association and life memberships to both the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association and the Western and North-Western Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (WNRCASN). Hester Kernen died in Saskatoon in 2016 at age 101.