Martha E. Rogers enrolled at UT in 1931 in a pre-medical curriculum. She left UT after two years and enrolled in the diploma nursing program at the Knoxville General Hospital, from which she received the Diploma in Nursing in 1936. In 1937 she completed the BS in public health nursing at Nashville’s George Peabody College. She then became a public health nurse in rural Michigan. She returned to academic work, earning the master’s degree from Teacher’s College at Columbia University. She became a public health nurse in Hartford, Connecticut, where she advanced from staff nurse to acting director of education. Following her time in Hartford, she established and eventually became the executive director of the first Visiting Nurse Service in Phoenix. She left Arizona in 1951 and received the MPH from Johns Hopkins in 1952 and the doctorate in nursing from Johns Hopkins in 1954. She was appointed head of the Division of Nursing at New York University in 1954 and retired as professor emeritus in 1979.
She is best known for developing the Science of Unitary Human Beings and for her landmark book, An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing. She and a few colleagues founded the Society of Rogerian Scholars in 1986, which began publication of the journal Visions: The Journal of Rogerian Nursing Science in 1993. Her major impact upon the profession of nursing has been recognized at UT with a commemorative marker in the sidewalk in front of the Nursing Building at what was the corner of Yale Avenue and Volunteer Boulevard until the last vestige of Yale Avenue was renamed Peyton Manning Pass by Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe in 1997. With the new name of the street, the significance of the placement of the plaque ceases to be obvious. The ground marker reads: “October 5, 1997 / Dedicated by Gamma Chi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau / and UT College of Nursing / in memory of / Martha E. Rogers, Sc.D., FAAN (1914–1994) / Lived on Yale Avenue / friend of the College, / noted educator and theorist who authored / The Science of Unitary Human Beings / ‘The Future is here—fantastic, yes—and we are integral with it.’ / M.E.R. 10/31/93.”