Reba Ann Benschoter Papers

Reba Ann Benschoter, PhD, began her tenure at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in 1957 as an audiovisual specialist in the College of Medicine’s Nebraska Psychiatric Institute (NPI). She worked in several teaching and directing positions before becoming the director of the communications division of NPI in 1962. In 1970, the Board of Regents created the Biomedical Communications Division for the whole UNMC campus. The NPI communications division became a satellite service within Biomedical Communications (BMC). Benschoter also became the director of Biomedical Communications, serving in both roles until becoming a professor emerita in 2000. Additionally, she was associate dean for the School of Allied Health Professions (SAHP) from 1985 to 1995.

Hallmarks of Benschoter’s career at UNMC included pioneering telemedicine and increasing learning opportunities and services in rural parts of Nebraska. In 1964, Benschoter became project director on the National Institute of Mental Health grant, which funded the creation and operation of the first U.S. two-way closed-circuit telemedicine system. The system extended UNMC’s Nebraska Psychiatric Institute services in Omaha to the Norfolk State Hospital, located in a small rural Nebraska Community. Biomedical Communications then expanded its two-way telemedicine system to provide psychiatric and specialty services to the Veterans Administration hospital system across Nebraska and to UNMC’s College of Nursing locations across the state. In 1991, Benschoter participated in the planning and implementation of NEB*SAT, a state-wide satellite T.V. system for rural communication and education.

As associate dean for the School of Allied Health Professions, Benschoter increased professional programs and student enrollment to address shortages in allied health professional services. She also extended health services to rural Nebraska through participation in the Rural Health Education Network (RHEN), the Rural Health Opportunities Program at Chadron State College, and the Rural Health Education Distance Learning Research Center.