Janet Colaizzi Papers

Janet Colaizzi (b. 1936) received a B.A. in Nursing and Philosophy in 1964 and an M.S. in Counseling Psychology and Philosophy in 1966, both from Pittsburgh's Duquesne University. She earned a doctorate in History from The Ohio State University, Columbus, in 1983. Dr. Colaizzi's career spans both teaching and professional practice. As an assistant professor at Duquesne University and subsequently at Ohio Wesleyan University, she taught psychiatric nursing for eight years. Later in her career, she joined the faculties of Christopher Newport University and Saint Leo University, in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, where she taught History and Philosophy courses for more than a decade. Dr. Colaizzi's activities as a practitioner began in 1983 with positions at both the community and university levels. She coordinated the psychiatric inpatient treatment team at the Charles B. Mills Mental Health Center, in Marysville, Ohio, and supervised professional staff at the Upham Hall Psychiatric Hospital of The Ohio State University. In 1986, Dr. Colaizzi moved to Virginia and continued work as a Psychiatric Nurse Clinician at the Eastern State Psychiatric Hospital in Williamsburg, where she also served as Nursing Education Coordinator. Dr. Colaizzi has made numerous presentations concerning the current theories and history of psychiatric practice, and has reviewed monographs, published journal articles, and authored two books: Homicidal Insanity: 1800-1985, published by the University of Alabama Press in 1989, and an institutional history released in 2006: The Unfortunates Committed to Our Care: the History of Eastern State Hospital, Williamsburg, Virginia, from 1865.