The first Conway Scholars are on their way

By Courtney J. Mitchell

Jasmine Inthavong, BSN ’25, and Avery Berg, BSN ’25, are two of the 51 students at Carolina Nursing who have been awarded Conway Scholarships, enabling them to fully focus on their education and dreams of becoming skilled nurses. Thanks to a historic $5 million commitment from philanthropists William E. ‘Bill’ Conway Jr. and his late wife, Joanne, the Conway Scholars program provides vital financial support to nursing students, helping address workforce shortages and advancing nursing education at UNC.

Growing up in her hometown of Grover, NC, Jasmine Inthavong, BSN ’25, dreamed of one day becoming a helper. From a young age, she already was one — she often translated interactions for family members for whom English was not a first language and volunteered at her local hospital as a teenager.

It’s always been a part of her, she said.

“I’ve known since I was little that I wanted to go into healthcare,” said Inthavong. “I had a passion for helping people and for putting my foot forward to advocate for others.”

As a first-generation college student at UNC, she chose nursing for its hands-on approach to patient care. She became interested in pediatric oncology because she could be involved in both patient care and research, and she could be part of the lives of children with cancer as well as the parents who cared for them.

Avery Berg, BSN ’25, from Smithfield, NC, is both a nursing student and a cadet in Air Force ROTC. Like Inthavong, she also wanted to be of service, knowing early on that she wanted to attend UNC and become a nurse just like her mother.

“I love the team-building aspect of nursing and how you never stop learning. Nursing school has been an amazing part of my development,” she said.

Inthavong and Berg are two of 51 students at Carolina Nursing who can now fully focus on their dreams of becoming the kind of highly skilled nurses our world needs thanks to a 2023 historic $5 million commitment from William E. ‘Bill’ Conway Jr. and his late wife, Joanne, through their Bedford Falls Foundation.

“Paying for college was a big concern for me,” said Inthavong. “Being a Conway Scholar has allowed me to focus more on clinical experiences, to get to know my patients and the kind of nurse I want to be, and to really hone in on my studies and career.”

“This support is invaluable as we strive to attract the best and brightest to the field of nursing.”

Dean Val Howard, UNC School of Nursing

The Conways’ historic gift is the largest in Carolina Nursing history dedicated to student support, and, for a period of five years, more than doubles the amount of annual scholarship funding available for the school’s baccalaureate program. The inaugural class of the Conway Scholars at UNC includes 43 students from North Carolina, four from other states and four from other countries. Over five years, the Conway Scholars program will support many more nursing students, alleviating some of the financial barriers that stand in the way of their education.

Prominent Washington, D.C.-area philanthropists and supporters of nursing education, the Conways have committed more than $300 million to nursing schools since 2013, placing them among the largest philanthropic supporters of nurses and nursing education in the nation. This gift last March was the Conways’ first to a North Carolina school.

“We are deeply thankful to Mr. Conway and his late wife, Joanne, for their steadfast commitment to nursing education and the profession as a whole,” said Valerie Howard, dean of the UNC School of Nursing. “Their generosity has made a Carolina Nursing education financially accessible to more students, which will have a profound positive impact on our profession and, most importantly, on future nurses. This support is invaluable as we strive to attract the best and brightest to the field of nursing.”

The Conway gift came at a crucial time for Carolina Nursing as the school sought the resources necessary to help address the state’s nursing workforce shortages. Scholarships like the Conways’ increase access to students interested in the profession by making nursing education more affordable, which makes recruitment and expanded enrollment easier for the school.

Bill Conway is a co-founder of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group. He and his wife Joanne, who passed away in early 2024, knew they wanted to make a substantial commitment to philanthropy, but Conway was initially undecided what kind of investment would make the most significant impact in the lives of Americans.

In an interview with the Washington Post in 2012, Conway had said he initially sought suggestions from the public on how he could use his wealth to make a difference, which yielded so many submissions — 2,500 — it took four people to review them. He was sure providing a path to employment should be part of the strategy, but he credited the idea of impacting not only individuals, but also a vital industry, to Joanne.

“My wife had a lot to do with this. She just thought, nurses. She thought people who had nursing degrees could get jobs. It’s that simple,” he told The Post.

Conway was also moved by the quality nursing care his parents had received as they aged. Nurses are vital to a healthy population, but a critical nursing shortage puts those lives in jeopardy. By removing financial barriers to a nursing education, the Conways could pave the way for those who’d felt that career path was out of their reach, while helping to fill in-demand nursing jobs at the same time.

And, this kind of support was scalable. In a 2022 interview with the Meta Performance Show podcast, Conway said they had a mission to provide support for 20,000 nurses across the country, reducing the amount of debt they graduate with and allowing future nurses to make employment decisions based on what they love to do and not on how much debt they would accrue to get there.

That relief, for students like Berg, can be powerful. While an ROTC scholarship covers her tuition, it isn’t her only college expense. To worry less about housing, food and everyday emergencies helps her put more energy into the rigors of school.

“It put me at ease,” she said. “I’m so grateful this support means I don’t have to work another job to make up the difference.”

Fittingly, Bill Conway will be the keynote speaker at the fall groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming Nursing Education Building, a long-awaited new 110,000 square-foot facility that will replace the outdated 1969 wing of Carrington Hall, half of the school’s current home.

The building will increase the school’s overall space by 20,000 square feet and provide a modern structure complete with the latest technologies to better prepare students for the modern health care environment and to allow for current and future program expansion and more innovative learning opportunities.

“We are so grateful to be able to feature Mr. Conway as our keynote speaker at the groundbreaking. His and Joanne’s visionary philanthropy and their profound impact on nursing education are as singular and instructive as they are inspiring,” said Howard. “He will bring a unique perspective on the rationale for and privileges of supporting our great profession and the students who enter it.”

Like the Conways’ gift, the new building is essential to the school’s plans to admit and educate more students, eventually expanding enrollment by 50 percent by 2026, and means more Carolina Nurses entering the workforce to provide quality, compassionate care on the frontlines of health care systems.

The groundbreaking will be Friday, October 25 at 3:00 p.m. at the Blue Zone at Kenan Stadium and is open to the public. Learn more and register here.