Styles was born in
Mount Union, Pennsylvania. She graduated from
Juniata College in
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania with degrees in biology and chemistry, and earned her master's degree in nursing at
Yale University, and her doctorate in education from the University of Florida. In 1967, Styles became an associate professor of nursing at
Duke University. She later served as dean of nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and
Wayne State University in
Detroit,
Michigan. From 1977 through 1987, she was dean of nursing at the
University of California, San Francisco. Styles played a significant role in efforts to develop stricter certification and credentialing systems for nurses. The organization is now a major unit of the
American Nurses Association and it administers testing for more than twenty specialties, helping to standardize professional expectations of nurses. Styles was elected president of the
International Council of Nurses in 1993. ==Recognition==