Carol P. Hanley Germain, associate professor emerita in Penn’s School of Nursing and pioneer in the development of qualitative research in nursing, died May 10. She was 86.

Dr. Germain graduated from St. Clare’s School of Nursing before earning her BSN from Seton Hall University, her MSN from St. John’s University, and her doctorate in anthropology and education from Rutgers University.

Dr. Germain joined the standing faculty at Penn in 1978 following appointments at St. John’s and Rutgers and a strong clinical career. Dr. Germain developed and taught doctoral seminars in Qualitative Empirical Nursing Research and Cultural Perspectives in Nursing and Health Care in the School of Nursing’s doctoral program. She integrated content on these topics into the curricula of the school and mentored many PhD students in their research. She also taught undergraduate and master’s clinical and theory courses and served as chair of the Science and Role Development Division and vice chair of the Foundational Sciences and Health Division for over a decade. She served on several committees and boards, including the Pluralism Committee for the University Council, the Senate Executive Committee for the Faculty Senate, the VPUL Search Committee in 1982, the Almanac Advisory Board and the Disability Board for the University.

A year after her appointment here, Dr. Germain published the first institutional ethnography of nursing practice, The Cancer Unit: An Ethnography. Her other research efforts focused on sheltering abused women, diabetes self-management, and women’s experiences with hormone replacement therapy.

Dr. Germain was a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, the Honor Society of Nursing, and a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She was elected for two terms to the American Nurses Association’s Cabinet on Nursing Research. Her awards included Outstanding Contribution to Cardiovascular Nursing; American Heart Association, Roll of Honor and Excellence in Nursing Research, New Jersey State Nurses’ Association; Distinguished Alumna and Hall of Honor, Seton Hall University College of Nursing; and Faculty Award, Doctoral Student Organization, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She retired in 2008.

After retirement, she was a visiting professor and interim chair of the department of nursing at Rutgers University, Camden, and later served as director of nursing program development and senior advisor to the deans there.

Dr. Germain is survived by her sister, Catherine E. Hanley; son, Charles P. “Chip” (Linda); grandchild Maximilian “Max” Charles; step-grandchild, Tiffany Klaus; and numerous nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews.