SON Receives Jonas Scholars Program Grant

The School of Nursing has received a $70,000 grant from The Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare to fund three PhD Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholars, three PhD Jonas Veterans Healthcare Scholars and one DNP Jonas Veterans Healthcare Scholar, for a total of seven scholars funded at $10,000 each.

The SON’s seven Jonas Scholars will join two current SON Jonas Scholars, Kayoll Galbraith and Lauren Hamilton, and a total cohort of more than 1,000 Jonas Scholars spread throughout all 50 states.

As the nation’s leading philanthropic funder of graduate nursing education, the Jonas Center is addressing the critical need for qualified nursing faculty. U.S. nursing schools turned away nearly 70,000 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2014 due in large part to an insufficient number of faculty[i]. Further, nearly two-thirds of registered nurses over age 54 say they are considering retirement[ii].

“In 2008, we set an ambitious goal to support 1,000 Jonas Nurse Scholars. This year, on our Center’s 10th anniversary, we celebrate this achievement and are amazed by the talent of this cohort of future nurse leaders,” said Donald Jonas, who co-founded the Center with Barbara Jonas, his wife. “In the decade to come, we look forward to continuing to work with our partner nursing schools and to the great impact that the Jonas Scholars will have on improving healthcare around the world.”

[i] American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014-2015 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing

[ii] AMN Healthcare, 2015 Survey of Registered Nurses: Viewpoints on Retirement, Education and Emerging Roles