Elaine Church Hubbard, Ed.D., Ed.M., R.N., ANP-C, who served as a professor and Dean of Simmons College's Department of Nursing from 1962 to 1975, died on December 9, 2025, at the age of 98. Hers is a Simmons story that bears sharing as one who embraced her role as nurse, teacher, and leader for many years.
Born and raised in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Dr. Hubbard knew that she wanted to become a nurse by age 18. Her father insisted that she receive a four-year undergraduate degree (most women in the 1940s attended nursing school for just two years). She graduated from Bates College in 1950 and would eventually become a Registered Nurse and obtain a doctorate in education from Boston University in 1972. Dr. Hubbard was passionate about primary care and care of the elderly, and also served as an adult nurse practitioner, nurse educator, and administrator.
Dr. Hubbard’s grandniece, Samantha Shanley, who affectionately called her great aunt “Birdy,” recalls the combination of determination and compassion that made Hubbard a great nurse. “The thing about Elaine was that she could be incredibly fierce and very independent, strong-willed, and strong-minded, but she was also so kind, giving, and caring. She was constantly thinking about other people,” Shanley says.
In 1962, Dr. Hubbard came to Simmons as a faculty member. Simmons News (now The Simmons Voice), the student newspaper, heralded her arrival in a welcoming announcement. As Hubbard told the newspaper, “[I am] most impressed by the students’ interest in learning [here at Simmons]. They are serious-minded and show an enthusiasm for new educational experiences … As a newcomer, I feel warm, welcome, and already a part of Simmons College.”
As a Simmons faculty member, Dr. Hubbard taught a variety of courses on the fundamentals of nursing and pharmacology. Some of her courses included “Society and Health,” “Seminar in Nursing,” “Social Foundations of Nursing,” and “Integrative Seminar.”
Shanley notes that teaching was part of Dr. Hubbard’s nature. “Elaine was always teaching people … she was constantly helping others around her … she worked really well with other people because she listened to them … She was a remarkable person,” Shanley says.
Dr. Hubbard was promoted to Assistant Professor at Simmons in 1964, followed by Associate Professor in 1970 and full Professor in 1975. She became Dean (then called “Chairman”) of Simmons’ Department of Nursing (now School of Nursing) in 1972.
Following her tenure at Simmons, Dr. Hubbard was recruited by the University of Rochester to become the Associate Dean of the School of Nursing and later became the School’s Director of Community-centered Practice. In 2006, the School established the Elaine C. Hubbard Center for Nursing Research on Aging in Dr. Hubbard’s honor.
Consonant with Simmons’ mission, Dr. Hubbard rose to prominence as a female leader. Shanley notes that Hubbard was aware of being ensconced within the broader, male-dominated field of medicine. “She was determined to not get run over [by men],” Shanley says. “Professionally, she stood her ground. She was up against a lot and she knew it, and she was always trying to empower women.”
Beyond academics and nursing, Dr. Hubbard was an active member of the YMCA of Pittsford (New York), the Pittsford Community Church, and similar organizations in Naples, Florida, where she owned a condo. She loved to travel and enjoyed visiting friends and family in new places.
When Dr. Hubbard was in her final years, Shanley published reflections on their close relationship in The Boston Globe and The New York Times. Despite having dementia, Dr. Hubbard retained a strong cumulative memory, telling Shanley stories about the lifelong friendships she made in nursing school.
Dr. Hubbard is survived by her nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.
As Shanley reflects, “She was just a giver, she was always in service of other people … her joyful, energetic spirit touched many people whom she cared for lovingly in her community and beyond.”