USD Magazine, Spring 2002

Put USDS School of Nursing

F or the record: A poster of that infamous New Yorker cover that shows the world pretty much ending at the Hudson River does not hang in Janet Rodgers' office. But it would be hard to find an image that better summed up her view of the world when she was con– tacted in 1987 about heading the nursing school at a small, liberal arts university in San Diego. The one-time Manhattan resident, who is perfectly suited to the city that doesn't sleep, was ambivalent about the prospect of living in a smaller beach town. "One of my first thoughts after I was asked about the job at USD," she says, breaking into a smile, "was, why in the world would anyone want to live in California?" But Rodgers made the cross-coun– try trek to interview at Alcala Park, and found something she didn't have in the Big Apple: an opportunity to influence her profession by transform– ing a nursing program in its infancy into a top research school.