in British and American psychiatry. After the war, Peplau was at the table with many of these same men as they worked to reshape the mental health system in the United States through the passage of the National Mental Health Act o 1946. Peplau held master's and doctoral degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University. She was also certified in psychoanalysis by the William Alanson White Institute of New York City. In the early 1950s, Peplau developed and taught the first classes for graduate psychiatric nursing students at Teachers College. Dr. Peplau was a member of the faculty of the College of Nursing at Rutgers University from 1954 to 1974. At Rutgers, Peplau created the first graduate level program for the preparation of clinical specialists in psychiatric nursing. She was a prolific writer, and was well known for her presentations, speeches, and clinical training workshops. Peplau was a tireless advocate for advanced education for psychiatric nurses. She thought that nurses should provide truly therapeutic care to patients, rather than the custodial care that was prevalent in the mental hospitals of that era. During the 1950s and 1960s, she conducted summer workshops for nurses throughout the United States, mostly in state psychiatric hospitals. In these seminars, she taught interpersonal concepts and interviewing techniques, as well as individual, family, and group therapy. Peplau was an advisor to the World Health Organization, and was a visiting professor at universities in Africa, Latin America, Belgium, and throughout the United States. A strong advocate for research in nursing, she served as a consultant to the U.S. Surgeon General, the U.S. Air Force, and the National Institute of Mental Health. She participated in many government policy-making groups. She served as president of the American Nurses Association from 1970 to 1972, and as second vice president from 1972 to 1974. After her retirement from Rutgers, she served as a visiting professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium in 1975 and 1976. Personal life In 1944 Peplau met an American army psychiatrist who was also briefly stationed at the 312th Field Hospital in England. With the psychiatrist somewhat perturbed by post combat stress, and Peplau herself unsettled by the unexpected death of her mother shortly after the couple met, their relationship got out of hand, leading to a pregnancy. As the psychiatrist was married, Peplau went on to raise their daughter as a single mother. She rarely talked