Dr. Sandra Lynn McGuire is a nurse, educator, active community member, and an advocate for combating ageism, promoting positive aging, and promoting the rights of individuals with disabilities. Dr. McGuire earned a BSN degree from the University of Michigan in 1969. She received a MPH with a major in Public Health Nursing from the University of Michigan in 1973. After completing an EdD at the University of Tennessee in 1988 majoring in gerontology and health education she post-doctorally completed a MSN at Emory University in 1998 as a gerontological nurse practitioner. She was awarded a U.S. Public Health Service Fellowship for her MPH and an Emory University Woodruff Fellowship for her MSN.

Dr. McGuire is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. After retiring from the University of Tennessee she assumed the position of Assistant Dean and Professor at Lincoln Memorial University’s Caylor School of Nursing (2009-2014). At the University of Tennessee she coordinated the gerontology minors, chaired the master’s program in nursing, was awarded a College of Nursing Outstanding Teacher Award, and was a finalist for a UT National Alumni Outstanding Classroom Teacher Award.

Dr. McGuire has been recognized for more than four decades of dedicated community and professional service. Nationally, she served from 2006-2012 on AARP’s National Policy Council and served on the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Education Programs from 2007-2010. She is a Fellow of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) and a 2018 recipient of the AGHE Mildred M. Selzer Award for distinguished service. She serves on AGHE’s K-12 Gerontology Education Committee, Intergenerational Learning, Research and Community Engagement Committee, and the AGHE award for Best Children’s Literature on Aging Sub-Committee. She served on the Board of Directors for the Center for Understanding Aging. Additionally, Dr. McGuire is the director of the Kids Are Tomorrow’s Seniors program that focuses on promoting positive aging with young children. She is a Board Member of the Senior Citizens Home Assistance Service, Inc. (SCHAS) where she co-chairs the Quality Improvement Committee. SCHAS is a nonprofit organization serving 18 counties in East Tennessee and whose mission includes improving the quality of life for the elderly, persons with disabilities, and their caregivers. In retirement she has served as a volunteer tutor in the local school system.

Dr. McGuire has been active on the state and local level with ARC’s. She has chaired and served on the Michigan ARC Residential Services Committee and the Health Committee. She was instrumental in the filing of a lawsuit in federal district court to protect the rights of people who were mentally retarded and mentally ill, including protection from abuse, in Michigan residential institutions. The lawsuit resulted in protection from abuse legislation in these facilities. The lawsuit was amended to in include the right to the most therapeutic treatment milieu and resulted in increased opportunities for community  versus institutional placement. This legislation served as a model for other states. She was a resource person to the Governor’s Task Force on Abuse in Michigan Mental Health Facilities and was selected as an advocate for interpreting the Recipient Rights section of the Michigan Mental Health Code. Dr. McGuire was instrumental in promoting legislation in Michigan for free, public education for people with disabilities. As a result of advocacy activities, Michigan had an Education for All Handicapped Children Act in place before the enactment of the federal law and the Michigan law was more comprehensive then the federal law. She served as a volunteer camp nurse at a weeklong camp for adults who were mentally retarded spanning a period of three decades.

Dr. McGuire has presented at conferences and published in journals including: Childhood Education, Journal of School Nursing, Pediatric Nursing, Journal of Nursing Education, Nursing Outlook, Journal of Community Health Nursing, Open Journal of Nursing, Nursing and Health Science, Nursing and Health Care Perspectives, Rehabilitation Nursing, Journal of Mental Health Practice, Educational Gerontology, Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, Journal of Health Education, and Creative Education. She has published in books including The Encyclopedia of Ageism; Violence, Neglect and the Elderly; A Multidisciplinary Treatment Program for the Preschool-aged Exceptional Child; and is a co-author of a 6th edition community health nursing text, Comprehensive Community Health Nursing (1982-2002) Comprehensive Community Health Nursing has been awarded two AJN Book of the Year Awards. She is the compiler of the AGHE bibliography “Teaching About Aging for Children and Youth” and the author of “Growing Up and Growing Older: Books for Young Readers (Preschool-Third Grade)”. The booklist is updated regularly and is available free, online at http://library.lmunet.edu/booklist, at http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_nurspubs26, and in the federal Educational Resources and Information Center (ERIC) as ED 570955.

Dr. McGuire has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Gerontology and Geriatrics Education , was awarded a U.S. Public Health Service Fellowship, an Emory Woodruff Fellowship, a University of Tennessee Hewlett Innovative Teaching Development Grant and Professional Development grants, received the multi-state John Runyan Community Health Nursing Award. She was an invited participant at the 1995 White House Conference on Aging Preplanning Conference: “Spanning the Generations: The Valuable Resources of Younger and Older Persons” and the 1995 White House Conference on Aging Mini-Conference: “Connecting Generations: Educating Youth for an Aging Society”.  Dr. McGuire was nominated for the Alex Haley Gerontology Award and is an Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) Fellow. She is member of international honoraria’s including: Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Lambda Theta, and Sigma Theta Tau.

She maintains professional memberships in the American Nurses Association, the Tennessee Nurses Association, National Gerontological Nurses Association, Gerontological Society of America (GSA), and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE).