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School of Nursing Granted $750,000 for Scholarships
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A USF nursing student practices diagnosing breathing problems on a programmable mannequin, under the watchful eye of her instructor. |
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The University of San Francisco’s School of Nursing has received one of the largest funding grants in its history, a $750,000 gift from the Helene Fuld Health Trust.
The New York-based Fuld Trust is the largest private funder of nursing students and nursing education in the country, with a highly selective grant application process. Nurse training programs, colleges, and universities must be invited to apply. Past winners include Johns Hopkins University and Yale University.
“This is a very big grant for us,” said School of Nursing Dean Judith Karshmer. The grant, to be paid out over three years, will be managed as part of the School of Nursing’s long-term, interest-earning endowment, providing a minimum of $100,000 a year for undergraduate, need-based scholarships.
“It will help us recruit the best and brightest students, regardless of their financial needs, and help us ensure the future financial stability of baccalaureate students in the School of Nursing,” Karshmer said.
By comparison, the largest gift to the School of Nursing in recent history came in 2005, in the form of a $1.4 million, three-year grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
The School of Nursing has twice before received grants from the Fuld Trust, $64,622 in 1993 for the nursing skills lab, and $54,000 in 2000 for scholarships, according to Sally Dalton, associate vice president of development. “(The size of this year’s grant) is a real sign of the confidence that the Helene Fuld Health Trust board of trustees has in Judy Karshmer’s leadership and the direction in which the School of Nursing is going,” Dalton said.
Key to winning the grant was the School of Nursing’s dedication to training a diverse population to pursue careers as nurses, particularly minorities and men, Karshmer said. More than half of USF’s nursing students – 57 percent – are members of underrepresented minorities, while a higher than expected number –14 percent – are male. The figures mirror USF in general, which ranked as the 18th most ethnically diverse college or university in the country for 2008, according to U.S. News and World Report and The Princeton Review.
“High academic ability and significant diversity among the student population has made it possible to design and implement a curriculum that responds to contemporary issues in nursing education, as well as demands of the workplace,” Karshmer said.
The School of Nursing’s efforts to expand nursing students’ opportunities for global immersion experiences in Vietnam, Africa, and Belize were also a focus of the grant application. As well, nursing students’ clinical work with senior citizens and vulnerable populations were highlighted. Almost 85 percent of bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) students take a course on death and dying during their time at the school.
- Originally posted Aug. 14, 2008 - 
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