Biography
Dr. Sonya Grypma is Associate Professor, School of Nursing, and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of History, Trinity Western University. Dr. Grypma’s historical research on Canadian missionary nursing and medicine in China grew out of her doctoral program at the University of Alberta. It has evolved through various fellowships and research grants, at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing, University of Ottawa AMS Nursing History Unit, University of Virginia Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, and the University of Pennsylvania Barbara Bates Center for Nursing Historical Research She began her nursing career in British Columbia (UBC Hospital; Kitkatla outpost nursing station) and spent most of her career in Alberta before joining the TWU nursing faculty in 2007. She has also been involved with nursing projects in Uganda (1987; 1991), Guyana (2000) and China (2005; 2006; 2009).
Dr. Grypma has held leadership roles in national and international organizations in nursing history, including the Canadian Association for the History of Nursing and the American Association for the History of Nursing. In 2006 she invited 18 Canadians to join her as guests of honour at the 110th Anniversary of the Weihui Hospital, a former Canadian missionary hospital in Weihui, Henan, Peoples Republic of China. Together with Mike Visser she co-produced a short documentary on the visit to China (Walls Fall Down: Canadian Missionary Kids Return to China. Calgary, Directors Chair, 2007). Her first book, Healing Henan: Canadian Nurses at the North China Mission, 1888 – 1947 (Vancouver, UBC Press) was released in 2008.
China Interrupted available here
Healing Henan available here
Walls Fall Down available here
Capturing Nursing History available here
Education
- Bachelor of Nursing, (University of Calgary)
- Master of Nursing, (University of Calgary)
- PhD (Nursing), (University of Alberta)
- Also completed a 2 year SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (Nursing history) at UBC in 2007.
Areas of Expertise
Dr. Grypma is a nurse historian whose scholarly interests relate especially to the history of nursing in Canada and China. She also has expertise in the area of nursing in international and intercultural settings, spirituality, and work/life balance issues.
Scholarship Interests & Involvements
Dr. Grypma’s research interests are primarily in the area of nursing and medical history, including missionary history and Canadian and Chinese nursing history. Her book, Healing Henan: Canadian Nurses at the North China Mission, was published by UBC Press in 2008. It is currently being translated into Mandarin for publication in China. Her second book, China Interrupted: Japanese internment and the Reshaping of a Canadian Missionary Community is expected to be released in 2012.
Research Projects
2011: Nursing Activities of the Rockefeller Foundation, 1915-1965: A Multimedia Essay
- Yves, Saunier, P., Nelson, S., D'Antonio, P., Grypma, S. & Dary, R.
- Funding by Rockefeller Foundation
2010-2011: Contact Zone: The Interplay of Religion, Race and Gender at the Canadian Mission Hospital at Weihui, China, 1896 to 1949 (Phase II)
- Sonya Grypma (Principal Investigator), Na Wu (Research Associate)
- Funding by SSHRC:
2009- 2012 Considering Place: Religious, Spiritual and Cultural Plurality in Home Health Care
- Sheryl Reimer Kirkham (Principal Investigator), Sonya Grypma, Barbara Pesut, Rick Sawatzky, Sonya Sharma.
- Funding by SSHRC:
2009- 2010 Contact Zone: The Interplay of Religion, Race and Gender at the Canadian Mission Hospital at Weihui, China, 1896 to 1949 (Phase I)
- Sonya Grypma (Principal Investigator).
- Funding by SSHRC Institutional Grant (SIG):
2009- 2010: Worthy of the Name: The Philadelphia Roots of Elizabeth McKechnie First Missionary Nurse to China, 1884.
- Sonya Grypma (Principal Investigator).
- Funding by Lillian Sholtis Brunner Fellowship for Historical Research in Nursing. University of Pensylvania, Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing:
2006 - 2009 Canadian Nursing History: The Cultures of Colonialism and Nationalism
- Meryn Stuart (Principal Investigator), Cynthia Toman, Myra Rutherdale, Kathryn McPherson, Laurie Meijer Drees, Johanne Daigle, Sonya Grypma, Marion McKay.
- Funding by SSHRC:
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship
2005 - 2007 Canadian Nurses Interned Under the Japanese in China, 1941 - 1947
- Grypma, S. Postdoctoral Study
- Advisor: Dr. Geertje Boschma, University of British Columbia
SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship
2001 - 2005 Canadian Nurses at the North China Mission, 1888 - 1947
- Grypma, S. Doctoral Study
- Co-Supervisors: Dr. Janet Ross Kerr; Dr. Pauline Paul, University of Alberta
Publications
Books
Grypma, S. (July 2012 release). China Interrupted: Japanese Internment and the Reshaping of a Canadian Missionary Community. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Grypma, S. (2008). Healing Henan: Canadian Nurses at the North China Mission, 1888-1947 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press).
Book Chapters
Ross-Kierr, J. & Grypma, S. (in press). Chapter 3: The development of nursing in Canada. In P. Potter, A. Perry, B. Astle, & W. Duggleby (Eds.) Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing Practice (5th ed). (Toronto: Mosby)
Grypma, S. (2011). Missionary nursing: Internationalizing religious ideals. In M. Fowler, E. Johnson-Taylor, B. Pesut, S. Reimer-Kirkham and R. Sawatzky (eds.) Religions in Nursing: Ethical, Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. (New York: Springer). 131-149.
Hall, A., Grypma, S. & Pesut, B. (2009). Chapter 28: Spiritual health. In Patricia A. Potter, Anne Griffen Perry (Eds.) J.C. Ross Kerr and M. Woods (Canadian Eds.) Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing Practice (4th ed). (Toronto: Mosby), 434 – 451.
Boschma, G., Grypma, S. & Melchior, F. (2008) Chapter 7: Reflections on Researcher Subjectivity in Nursing History. In Sandra Lewenson & Eleanor Hermann (Eds.) Capturing Nursing History: A Guide to Historical Research. (New York: Springer) 99 - 121
Grypma, S. (2008). Chapter 5: Critical Issues in the Use of the Biographic Method in Nursing History. In Sandra Lewenson & Eleanor Hermann (Eds.) Capturing Nursing History: A Guide to Historical Research. Reprint of article in Nursing History Review, 2005. (New York: Springer), 63 - 78
Potter, P. & Grypma, S. (2005). Chapter 28: Spiritual Health. In Patricia A. Potter, Anne Griffen Perry (Eds.) J.C. Ross Kerr and M. Woods (Canadian Eds.) Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing Practice (3rd ed). (Toronto: Mosby), 486-509
Potter, P. & Grypma, S. (2005). Spiritual Health: Study Guide. In Patricia A. Potter, Anne Griffen Perry (Eds.) J.C. Ross Kerr and M. Woods (Canadian Eds.) Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing Practice (3rd ed). (Toronto: Mosby) [CD-ROM accompaniment to textbook]
Articles
Grypma, S. (in press). China nurse Jean Ewen: Embracing and abandoning Communist revolutionaries. Journal of Historical Biography, 9.
Grypma, S. (2011). Reintroducing the pinning ceremony. Journal of Christian Nursing, 28 (3) 127
Grypma, S. (2011). The value of feisty students. Journal of Christian Nursing, 28 (2) 71
Grypma, S. & Wu, N. (2012).China confidential: Methodological and ethical challenges in global nursing historiography. Nursing History Review, 20. 162-183
Grypma, S. (2011). Book review: Caregiving on the periphery: Historical perspectives on nursing and midwifery in Canada. Journal of Medicine and Allied Sciences. doi: 10.1093/jhmas/jrr012
Grypma, S. (2010). When we were (almost) Chinese: Identity and the internment of Canadian ‘mish-kid’ nurses in China, 1941-1945, 3(86). Histoire sociale – Social History. 3(86), 315-344
Grypma, S. (2011). Media review: Cultures of health: a historical anthology. Nursing History Review, 19, 198-209
Grypma, S. (2011). In Retrospect: (Re) searching for hidden treasure. Journal of Christian Nursing, 28 (1) 8
Wytenbroek, L., & Grypma, S. (2011). Review essay: Nursing in Newfoundland. Nursing History Review, 19, 214-6
Grypma, S. (2010). In Retrospect: What ever happened to missionary nursing? Journal of Christian Nursing, 27 (4) 288
Grypma, S. (2010). In retrospect: Revis(it)ing nursing history (featured history column). Journal of Christian Nursing, 27 (2) 16.
Grypma, S. (2009). Essential nursing values: Re-envisioning for the 21st century. Online Journal of Christian Nursing 1 (1), 1 – 11.
Grypma, S. (2009). Nursing in need of transformation: What are we searching for? Journal of Christian Nursing, 166 – 173.
Grypma, S. (2008). Book Review: Faculty of Nursing on the Move. Nursing History Review, 16, 258-9
Grypma, S. (2007). Withdrawal from Weihui: China Missions and the Silencing of Missionary Nursing, 1888 - 1947. Nursing Inquiry, 14 (4): 306 - 319
Grypma, S. (2007). Publish or Perish Revisited: Confessions of a New Academic. Nurse Author & Editor. (online) 17 (2)
Grypma, S. (2007). Book Review: Four Centuries of Canadian Nursing, Nursing History Review, 15, 190 - 191.
Kulig, J. & Grypma, S. (2006). Nursing History. Honouring Pioneer Aboriginal Nurses from the Blood Reserve. Alberta RN 62 (8): 14 - 16.
Grypma, S. (2006). Nightingale the Person - Not the Symbol. Part of Revisiting Nightingale: Differing Perspectives, a nine-page response by four authors to Grypma (2005) articles on Florence Nightingale's Changing Image. Journal of Christian Nursing, 23 (3): 32-33.
Grypma, S. (2006). Book Review: Florence Nightingale's Collected Works Volume 6 and 7, edited by Lynn McDonald. University of Toronto Quarterly, 75 (1) 304-305.
Grypma, S. (2005). Book Review: A Social History of Medicines in the Twentieth Century: To Be Taken Three Times a Day by John K. Crellin, 2004. Journal of Christian Nursing, 22 (4): 46 - 47.
Grypma, S. (2005). Critical Issues in the Use of the Biographic Method in Nursing History. Nursing History Review, 13. 171 - 187.
Grypma, S. (2005). Florence Nightingale's Changing Image, PART II: From Ministering Angel to Modern Mystic. Journal of Christian Nursing, 6 - 13.
Grypma, S. (2005). Florence Nightingale's Changing Image, PART I: Nightingale the Feminist, Statistician and Nurse. Journal of Christian Nursing, 22 - 28.
Grypma, S. (2005). The Flag Bearer. In J. K. Scott and J. E. Kieser's (Eds.) Northern Nurses II: More Nursing Adventures from Canada's North (Oakville, ON: Kokum Publications): 135-6.
Grypma, S. (2004). Neither Angels of Mercy nor Foreign Devils: Re-Visioning Canadian Missionary Nurses in China, 1935 - 1947. Nursing History Review 12, 97-119.
Grypma, S. (2004). James R. Menzies: Preaching and Healing in Early 20th-Century China. Canadian Medical Association Journal 170 (1), 84 - 5.
Grypma, S. (2004) Louise Clara Preston: Missionary Nurse to China, 1922 - 1947. Canadian Association for the History of Nursing Newsletter, 17 (1), 5.
Grypma, S. (2003). Profile of a Leader: Unearthing Ethel Johns's ‘Buried' Commitment to Racial Equality, 1925. Canadian Journal of Nursing Leadership 16 (4), 39-47.
Grypma, S. & Jamison, S. (2003). Caring for Strangers: Nursing's Peculiar Legacy. Journal of Christian Nursing, 20 (3), 9 - 13.
Lavarato, L., Grypma, S., Spenceley, S., Hagen, B. & Nowatski, N. (2003). Positive Outcomes in Cardiac Rehabilitation. Canadian Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 13 (3), 13 - 19.
Grypma, S. (2001). Addressing Overloaded Practices. Canadian Nurse, 97 (9), 8 - 9.
Grypma, S., & Taylor, S. (1999). Packing for the Journey: Character Traits for Transcultural Care. Journal of Christian Nursing, 16 (4), 13 - 16.
Grypma, S. (1993). Culture Shock. Canadian Nurse, 89 (8), 33 - 36.
Awards & Honours
- 2009 - 2010: University of Pennsylvania Barbara Bates Center for Nursing Historical Research | Lillian Sholtis Brunner Fellowship
- 2006 - 2008: University of Virginia Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry | Barbara Brodie Postdoctoral Fellowship
- 2005 - 2007: Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) | Postdoctoral Fellowship (UBC)
- 2005: American Association for the History of Nursing |Teresa E. Christy (Dissertation) Award
- 2003 - 2004: University of Alberta | Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship
- 2003 - 2005: SSHRC | Doctoral Fellowship (University of Alberta)
- 2003: Canadian Association for the History of Nursing | Margaret Allemang Scholarship
- 2003: University of Alberta | Dr. Shirley Stinson History of Nursing Scholarship
- 2003: American Association for the History of Nursing | Student Research Award
- 2003: Sigma Theta Tau | Rising Stars of Research and Scholarship Award
- 2002: University of Alberta | Dr. Shirley Stinson History of Nursing Scholarship
- 2002: Province of Alberta | Graduate Fellowship
- 2002: Alberta Association of Registered Nurses | Helen Sabin Award
- 2001: University of Alberta | Isobel Secord Award