Skip to main content.

Thiry Society

Learn about the Thiry Academic Society at KU School of Nursing-Salina.

Portrait of Roberta Thiry Portrait of Roberta Thiry, Ph.D., RN

The Thiry Society is the academic society for the KU School of Nursing-Salina campus. The purpose of the society is to provide students with learning opportunities about professional nursing, begin to develop a sense of belonging and identity with the nursing profession, and connect with the Salina community through various service projects.    

All students are automatically a member of the society, with opportunities to achieve and be recognized for various levels of participation. 

The society is named after Roberta Thiry, an influential member of the Kansas nursing community and former KU School of Nursing faculty.

Dr. Thiry completed her Ph.D. in the KU Nurse Scientist Program in 1973. Following completion of her doctoral studies, Dr. Thiry taught in the KU School of Nursing for four years. After leaving KU, Dr. Thiry became associate dean of graduate nursing at the Medical College of Georgia. She returned to Kansas as chair of the Department of Nursing at Pittsburg State University in 1979. Dr. Thiry was an integral part of the development of an Associate Degree nursing program at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas. She also served as president of the Kansas State Board of Nursing. She retired in 1996. In 2017, in Dr. Thiry’s honor, the new, KU School of Nursing campus in Salina named its academic society after her.   

KU School of Nursing

University of Kansas
School of Nursing-Salina
138 N. Santa Fe Ave.
Salina, KS 67401
Phone: 785-822-0420
soninfo@kumc.edu