Vale Professor Charlotte de Crespigny AM (1948-2024)
DipAppSc(Nurs) ’80, BNg(PostReg) ’90, DipPrimHlthCare ‘97
It is with great sadness that Flinders University learned about the recent passing of Professor Charlotte de Crespigny AM.
Professor de Crespigny joined Flinders University in 1976 as a student, completing a Diploma of Applied Science (Nursing) in 1980, a Bachelor of Nursing (PostReg) in 1990, and a Diploma in Primary Health Care in 1997. She was awarded her PhD (Ng/Midwif) in 1999 for her thesis ’The Girls’ Night Out: A critical ethnography of young women’s decision making, drinking and hotel setting’.
Professor de Crespigny continued her journey at Flinders as a staff member in her role as the inaugural Professor, Joint Chair, Alcohol and other Drug Nursing from 1996 to 2008. She then joined the University of Adelaide as a Professor of Drug and Alcohol Nursing between 2008 through to 2015 and remained with Adelaide following this as an Adjunct Professor.
Professor de Crespigny led research and education in alcohol and other drugs, mental health comorbidity and Aboriginal mental health care.
Professor Alison Kitson, current Vice-President and Executive Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University has fond memories of working alongside a stalwart of the nursing field.
“I had the great pleasure and privilege to have worked with Charlotte from 2009 to 2017 when we were both at the University of Adelaide,” says Professor Kitson.
“Her passion, compassion and immense sense of fun shone through in everything she did. Her respect for others around her reflected her deep commitment to social justice and equity. She was a champion, and it was a privilege to have walked beside her.”
Professor de Crespigny was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2018 for her significant service to nursing, and nurse education, and for bridging the divide between the medical profession and some of Australia’s most vulnerable, including her work particularly in the field of drug and alcohol care, and with remote Aboriginal communities and with prisoners.
Professor de Crespigny will be deeply missed and remembered for her outstanding contribution to AOD nursing.