Barbara S. Jacobsen, GED’58, a professor emerita in Penn’s School of Nursing who taught many generations of nursing students how to employ statistics in research, died on December 13, 2022. She was 91.

Ms. Jacobsen received a bachelor’s degree from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, then taught in an elementary school for more than a decade. She went on to earn a master’s degree from Penn in measurement evaluation in 1958, then joined Penn Nursing’s faculty as an associate professor in 1964, where she taught statistics and research design. “During her 28 years with Penn Nursing, she was one of the school’s most popular teachers and was known especially for her humor, quick wit, and energy,” wrote her colleagues in an online tribute. She received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching from Penn in 1975, and was also active in the school’s research community: As primary statistician for much of the early research in the school, her scholarship and application of mathematical disciplines created the foundation on which Penn Nursing’s research, now nationally and internationally renowned, is based. Ms. Jacobsen’s research helped launch the Center for Nursing Research. She served on the University Council throughout the 1970s and 1980s, chairing its committee on recreation and intramural sports, and also served on several university-wide committees. In 1991, she became a full professor; she retired soon thereafter and took emeritus status.

After retiring from Penn, Ms. Jacobsen pursued an interest in lapidary arts, serving as a member of the Tuscarora Lapidary Society in Philadelphia, and later the Roxy Ann Gem and Mineral Society in Medford, Massachusetts. She was active in the society, teaching classes, leading tours, and presenting her work in gem and mineral shows.

Ms. Jacobsen is survived by her sister-in-law, Marion Jacobsen; her nephew, Mark Jacobsen; her great-niece, Isabel Shi Jacobsen; her sister-in-law, Greta Jacobsen; her niece, Kirsten Jacobsen; and her nephew, Lars Jacobsen. She was preceded in death by brothers-in-law Keith Jacobsen and Stephen Jacobsen. Donations in her memory may be sent to the Crater Rock Museum, 2002 Scenic Avenue, Central Point, Oregon 97502.