School of Nursing Awarded Competitive RWJF Scholarship

Contact:
Peg Malikowski, School of Nursing, malik025@umn.edu or 612-625-2496
Laura Stroup, Academic Health Center, stro0481@umn.edu or 612-624-5680

U's School of Nursing Among First in Nation To Be Awarded Competitive RWJF Scholarship

$130,000 award will support 13 partial scholarships through the New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program

 MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (Nov 13, 2008) - The University of Minnesota School of Nursing was selected among the first institutions in the nation to receive funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program. This groundbreaking national initiative, launched by RWJF and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), aims to help alleviate the nation's nursing shortage by dramatically expanding the pipeline of students from underrepresented or underserved populations to accelerated nursing programs. Grants provided through this competitive program will be used to increase the number of students enrolled in the School of Nursing's accelerated master's in nursing (MN) program.

The University of Minnesota School of Nursing was awarded $130,000 through the program, which has been distributed through scholarships to 13 incoming master's level nursing students. Each selected scholar will receive $10,000 during the 2008-2009 academic year. Grant funding also will be used by the School of Nursing to help leverage new faculty resources and provide mentoring and leadership development resources to ensure successful program completion by scholarship recipients.

"This RWJF initiative provides opportunities to students who have been underrepresented in the nursing profession or who come from underserved populations to become professional nurses by participating in the U's innovative master's program," said Kathie Krichbaum, Ph.D., R.N., associate dean for academic programs and project director. "The program provides an accelerated entré into nursing for those who have a baccalaureate degree in another field and are seeking a career change. These scholarships help to ensure that the new generation of nurses can be greater in number, more diverse, and better able to work with our increasingly diverse society to meet the goals of nursing and improve the health of all people," she added.

The RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program supports accelerated programs, which offer the most efficient route to licensure as a registered nurse for adults who have already completed a baccalaureate or graduate degree in a discipline other than nursing. Although enrollment in these programs has steadily increased over the past few years, many potential students are unable to enroll since already having a college degree disqualifies them for receiving most federal financial aid programs for entry-level students. These scholarships address this problem, and will also address the overall nursing shortage, by enabling hundreds of students to launch their nursing careers through accelerated education.

In 2002, the University of Minnesota School of Nursing established the post-baccalaureate certification program in order to establish a career path and program for students with undergraduate degrees to become nurses, ensuring a greater number of students entered careers in nursing. This 15-month program has since evolved into a master's of nursing degree program which includes traditional classroom formats as well as complementary, interactive components and Web-based resources. The interprofessional, science-based core curriculum includes nursing theory, physiology, pharmacotherapy, holistic health, research models, informatics, as well as leadership courses, taught by faculty who are experts in their fields.

By bringing more nurses into the profession at the baccalaureate and master's degree levels, the new scholarship 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 at the baccalaureate level are four times more likely than other nurses to pursue a graduate degree in nursing, which is the required credential to teach.

Additionally, the program targets the need to recruit students from groups underrepresented in nursing or disadvantaged backgrounds. According to the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, diversifying the nursing profession is essential to meeting the health care needs of the nation and reducing health disparities that exist among many underserved populations.

AACN serves as the National Program Office for this RWJF initiative and oversees the grant application submission and review processes. For more information about this program, see http://www.newcareersinnursing.org.

 The University of Minnesota School of Nursing is ranked among the nation's top nursing schools. It is a leader in nursing research and has a combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment of approximately 850 students. The school produces 55 percent of the faculty in Minnesota's public and private nursing schools, advanced practice nurses and nurses who can assume leadership positions. It is the oldest continuously-operated, university-based school of nursing. The School of Nursing is one of six schools and colleges in the Academic Health Center, one of the most comprehensive facilities for health professionals in the nation, fostering interdisciplinary study, research and education. For more information, visit www.nursing.umn.edu.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country.  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. Helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in our lifetime. www.rwjf.org