Honored for her outstanding contributions to nursing and nursing education, Mary Adelaide Nutting was a noted educator, historian, and scholar. She was a strong advocate of university education for nurses and was instrumental in developing the first programs of this type.
When Nutting accepted the chairmanship of the newly developing Department of Nursing Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, she became the first nurse ever to be appointed to a university professorship. Earlier in her career, in 1894, Nutting became principal of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, where she had graduated from in 1891. During her lifetime, Nutting made significant contributions to nursing literature. She wrote A Sound Economic Basis for Nursing, co-authored with Lavinia Dock the first two volumes of the four-volume History of Nursing, and wrote many articles for nursing and health periodicals.