Barbara Gaines was born and raised in Illinois. She took a B.A. in Psychology at McMurray College and her BSN at Chicago Wesley Memorial Hospital (1960). She joined faculty there until leaving for graduate work at the University of Washington (1964). She then came to the University of Oregon School of Nursing as teaching faculty. Under the tenure of Dean Lindeman she transferred into administration (1976). There she was engaged in a massive program to expand the School of Nursing's presence across the state with an emphasis on new graduate programs and research. She also endeavored to expand the potential pool of nursing staff to include more males and minorities. She changed focus from medical-surgical nursing to community health. She also paid attention to issues of accreditation and technology. She later wrote 褹 History of the School: 1910-1996� (2001). She discloses her frustrations in the task of pulling together resources scattered across the state.