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ASU's School of Nursing awarded five
scholarships through Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
July 1, 2010
--
Arkansas
State University’s School of Nursing, in the College of Nursing and
Health Professions, announced that it is one of 63 schools that
will receive funding to award five scholarships from the
Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the
American Association of Colleges
of Nursing (AACN) through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s
New
Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program (NCIN). Grants provided
through this competitive program will be given to students traditionally
underrepresented in the field of nursing and strives to prepare
culturally competent leaders in ASU School of Nursing accelerated
baccalaureate nursing program. NCIN was launched in 2008 to
address the national nursing shortage and fuel the pipeline of diverse
nurse faculty.
At
ASU’s School of Nursing, five scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each
will be awarded to five students entering accelerated nursing programs
during the 2010-2011 academic year. To date, the NCIN program has
supported 1,917 students at 101 schools of nursing, and continues to
develop culturally competent health professionals and future leaders of
the profession.
Dr. Sue McLarry, chair of the School of Nursing at ASU-Jonesboro, and an
RN and a Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) says “The School of Nursing is
very excited to be part of the RWJF New Careers in Nursing scholarship
program. The scholarships provide a great opportunity for our students
who are from groups typically underrepresented in nursing, such as males
and ethnic minorities.”
Denise A. Davis, Doctor of Public Health and RWJF program officer for
NCIN, says
"Through the NCIN program, we are challenging the nation’s nursing
schools to be innovative and resourceful in how they grow their nursing
programs, diversify student populations and contribute to the nursing
leadership of tomorrow. We are very pleased to support this unique
approach, particularly at a time when growing numbers of Americans are
gaining insurance and entering our health care system.”
The NCIN program was created through RWJF and AACN to enable schools of
nursing to expand student capacity in accelerated baccalaureate and
master’s programs, and build a more diverse workforce ready to serve the
needs of a changing patient population. Schools receiving grants through
NCIN provide scholarships directly to students from groups
underrepresented in nursing or from disadvantaged backgrounds. In its
second year, 58 percent of scholarships went to students from diverse
racial and ethnic groups and 37 percent went to male nursing students.
Men currently account for only 6.6 percent of the national nursing
population.
The NCIN program addresses a number of the challenges confronting
nursing education, professional development, and the national workforce
shortage. Accelerated programs like the ones supported by NCIN provide
scholars with the most efficient route to licensure as a registered
nurses (RNs) and create opportunities for adults who have already
completed a baccalaureate or graduate degree in a field other than
nursing. These programs prepare students to pass the licensure examine
required for all RNs in as little as 12-18 months and provide quicker
routes to workforce eligibility than traditional programs.
By bringing more nurses into the profession at the baccalaureate and
master’s degree levels, the NCIN program also helps to address the
nation’s nurse faculty shortage. Data from the U.S. Health Resources and
Services Administration show that nurses entering the profession via
baccalaureate programs are four times more likely than other nurses to
pursue a graduate degree in nursing. This trend is reflected in the NCIN
scholars, as 95% of the students receiving funding in the first two
years of the program indicate a desire to advance their education to the
master’s and doctoral levels.
Finally, the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program is
clearly having a positive effect on the nation’s nursing schools. Many
programs that received awards have used the NCIN funding to help
leverage additional resources to add new faculty, secure matching
funding from state programs, develop mentoring and leadership
development programs, strengthen outreach efforts, and establish new
partnerships with community and practice leaders. These efforts will
enable schools to sustain their program expansion while positioning them
for growth.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and
health care issues facing America. As the nation's largest philanthropy
devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all
Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations
and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive,
meaningful, and timely change. For more than 35 years the Foundation has
brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the
problems that affect the health and health care of those it
serves. Visit the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation online at
www.rwjf.org.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the national
voice for university and four-year college education programs in
nursing. Representing more than 640 member schools of nursing at public
and private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research,
governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs
work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those
standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and
promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education,
research, and practice. Visit the American Association of Colleges of
Nursing online at
www.aacn.nche.edu.
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