UC Receives Grant to Help Address Nursing Faculty Shortage
The UC College of Nursing has received a $775,000 federal grant to help ease the national shortage of nursing educators, and ultimately increase the number of applicants who can be admitted to nursing school.
The grant, from the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be used to recruit faculty members, provide additional courses to faculty and increase the number of courses offered to students both on campus and online.
While the national need for nurses continues to grow, says Amy Pettigrew, DNS, associate professor of nursing at UC, nursing schools across the country are limiting the number of qualified students they admit, largely because of a faculty shortage.
Looking around UC College of Nursing, says Dr. Pettigrew, were realizing many of us are over 45 and were concerned about being able to replace ourselves.
Because of our increasing enrollment, were scrambling for faculty, Dr. Pettigrew says. Everyone is. UC still needs five or six faculty members for the fall quarter, which is comparable to shortages faced by other nursing schools.
This grant will help us increase the number of qualified nursing educators through classes specifically geared toward teaching.
Many people graduating with nurse practitioner degrees are being hired by colleges to teach, says Dr. Pettigrew, but its not uncommon for them not to have taken any teaching courses.
The outcome of this innovative grant project, says Andrea Lindell, DNSc, dean of the College of Nursing, will contribute to increasing the number of much-needed faculty for nursing programs. Were working to do our part as a college of nursing to help alleviate the present and looming national shortage of faculty to teach in nursing programs.
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), 32,797 qualified applicants were turned away from U.S. nursing schools in 2004.
The AACN also reports 200300 doctorally prepared faculty will be eligible for retirement each year from 2003 through 2012, and 220280 masters-prepared nurse faculty, between 2012 and 2018, which also contributes to a nursing faculty shortage.
Founded in 1889, UCs College of Nursing was the first school in the country to offer a baccalaureate program in nursing, and received the first endowment ever given to a nursing program. In 2002 the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredited the college for a 10-year period, distinguishing it with 71 years of continuous accreditation.
The college currently has over 800 students, including undergraduate, graduate and PhD candidates, making it the 12th largest nursing school in the United States in terms of student and faculty, according to U.S. News & World Report. The college is also in the top 6 percent nationally in terms of research funding it receives.
Tags
Related Stories
Ohio could soon make breast cancer screenings more affordable
May 9, 2025
The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center's Ann Brown was featured in Local 12 and Cincinnati Enquirer reports on a bill introduced by Rep. Jean Schmidt in the Ohio legislature that seeks to eliminate out of pocket medical expenses such as copays and deductibles associated with supplemental breast cancer screenings.
UC lab-on-a-chip devices take public health into home
May 8, 2025
University of Cincinnati engineers created a new device to help doctors diagnose depression and anxiety. The “lab-on-a-chip” device measures the stress hormone cortisol from a patient’s saliva. Knowing if a patient has elevated stress hormones can provide useful diagnostic information even if patients do not report feelings of anxiety, stress or depression in a standard mental health questionnaire.
Study explores social media’s growing influence on cosmeceutical...
May 7, 2025
The University of Cincinnati's Kelly Dobos spoke with Cosmetics Design USA about new research that revealed a significant rise in consumer interest in cosmeceuticals, or cosmetic products with active ingredients purported to have medical benefits.