Susan Kathleen Gaston was the renowned Director of The University of Tulsa School of Nursing for 23 years and a longtime professor of nursing. Gaston was devoted to moving the school forward by improving technology and providing new educational opportunities to TU’s nursing students. She was responsible for bringing iStan – a lifelike computerized patient who could simulate disease symptoms – to TU, giving nursing students the opportunity to learn in a realistic environment with minimized risk.

Gaston also developed an opportunity for nursing students to study abroad and learn about the ways other countries used computers in nursing and health care, and this program earned her the Dean’s Innovation in Teaching Award in 1999. She successfully led TU’s School of Nursing through three national accreditations, helping to grow the school’s reputation and esteem in the state’s healthcare community and beyond. Gaston passed away on October 1, 2013, leaving behind an impressive legacy for those who will follow in her footsteps at the TU School of Nursing. She and her husband, Lawrence M. Gaston, made provisions in their will to leave a substantial estate gift to The University of Tulsa to support faculty in the School of Nursing and have established an estate gift to support The Susan Gaston Endowed Chair in Nursing.