Lusk, Sally

Sally Clark Lechlitner Lusk, PhD, RN, FAAN, graduated from Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in 1961, and received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Indiana University in 1967. She received a Masters of Public Health from the University of Michigan in 1969, and a PhD of Educational Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1979. She is mainly involved with the field of occupational health nursing.

Sally Lusk worked as a nurse in various locations from 1961 to 1968 before becoming an instructor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing in 1969. She became an Association Professor of Nursing, with tenure, in July 1973, and Professor of Nursing in September 1995. She also became Director of Occupational Health Nursing in 1987.

Lusk's main research interests are the role of nurses and the effect of noise. She has conducting many studies on noise-induced hearing loss in factory and construction workers, non-auditory effects of the noise, and means to improve the use of hearing protection among workers. Lusk has also been involved in studying the role of occupational health nurses in the corporate and industrial environments, how nurses can use nursing research to improve their practice, and on protecting health care workers from blood-born pathogens.

In addition to her research, Sally Lusk has been instrumental in improving nursing education in Michigan. In the late 1970's, she headed an effort to design a community-based Bachelor of Science in Nursing program for registered nurses. Programs were established at three off-campus locations to allow nurses to continue their education while working. She was also involved in starting the Masters in Occupational Health Nursing at the University of Michigan, improving University of Michigan Nursing curriculum, and establishing an on-campus masters program in occupational health nursing for working nurses.

Sally Lusk retired in 2003.

For additional information, see her website at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lusk/

From the guide to the Sally Lusk papers, 1975-2001, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)