EducationWith the support of her parents, Nola Pender entered the School of Nursing at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois, and receive her nursing diploma in 1962. In 1965, she received her master’s degree in human growth and development from the same university. She moved to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to obtain a Ph.D. in psychology and education in 1969. Pender’s dissertation research investigated developmental changes in the encoding process of short-term memory in children. Years later, she finished masters-level work in community health nursing at Rush University.