Bellarmine University’s Lansing School of Nursing and Health Sciences has received a second $80,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program (NCIN) to recruit students from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds to the nursing field. Eight students in the 2011-12 cohort will receive scholarships of $10,000 each to pursue an accelerated bachelor’s degree in nursing in the Lansing School. Candidates must already hold a non-nursing bachelor’s degree to be eligible for a scholarship.
The NCIN program was created through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 2008 to enable schools of nursing to expand student capacity in accelerated baccalaureate and master’s programs and to build a more diverse workforce ready to serve the needs of a changing patient population. Scholarships are targeted to underrepresented students, including men, racial and ethnic minority groups and candidates who are economically disadvantaged. Students may use the money for educational and living expenses.
The eight Bellarmine students who received NCIN scholarships for the 2010-11 academic year began the accelerated nursing program on May 3.
"The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing Scholarship has given Bellarmine University the opportunity to support career-changers from underrepresented groups,” says Sue Davis, Ed.D., dean of the Lansing School. “The goal for both the university and the nursing program is to increase the diversity among the students enrolled in the BSN second-degree program. By increasing student diversity, our graduates will reflect the diverse populations that registered nurses will see in their future practice.”
Co-directors for the project at Bellarmine are Barbara Lee, assistant professor of nursing, and Joan Masters, Ed.D., associate professor of nursing.
The NCIN scholarship program is intended to address the national nursing shortage and fuel the pipeline of diverse nurse faculty. In this third year of awards, scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each will be provided to 511 students entering accelerated programs at 63 schools of nursing, including those at Bellarmine University, DePaul University, Duke University and Johns Hopkins University.
To date, the NCIN program has supported 1,917 nursing students at 101 schools of nursing. For more about the program, visit:
http://www.newcareersinnursing.org
About Bellarmine University
Bellarmine University is an independent Catholic university offering more than 50 majors, as well as graduate degree programs, a doctor of nursing practice and a doctor of physical therapy. Forbes magazine and the Princeton Review rank Bellarmine among America’s best colleges, and U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Bellarmine as a top tier university.