Interview with Vernon Weckwerth

Abstract

Vernon Weckwerth begins his interview by discussing his upbringing during the Great Depression near the Red River Valley of Minnesota, his early education, and the rather circuitous route he took to the University of Minnesota. He discusses his graduate education, his return to Minnesota, and his professorship in health care administration in the School of Public Health. Weckwerth highlights some of his work in hospital administration within the context of the University’s land-grant mission and the creation of the Independent Study Program (ISP) to serve rural populations. As he relates his creation of ISP, Weckwerth elaborates on his educational philosophy and town/gown issues. Though his degrees were not in public health, Weckwerth took all of the public health courses offered by the University. He relates his interest in public health in terms of his rural upbringing and how he entered the field professionally. He then discusses the leadership of Gaylord Anderson, Lee Stauffer, and Edith Leyasmeyer in the School of Public Health. He also covers the following: his interpretation of dean appointments, his philosophy of public health as a field, the relationship of the School of Public Health to other departments, biostatistics, his role in the national heart study, the creation of the family practice program, the reorganization of the AHC, his experiences with the state legislature and community and professional organizations, his role in creating a doctoral program in nursing, the spread and closing of ISP, and his time on the faculty senate.