UC College of Nursing Awarded Jonas Grant for Doctoral Nursing Students

The University of Cincinnati College of Nursing announced today that a new grant of $50,000 from the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare, matched by $50,000 of its own funds, will cover the costs of scholarships for five doctoral nursing students in 2016. As a recipient of the Jonas Nurse Scholar Program Grant, the College of Nursing is part of a national effort to address the nursing faculty shortage as well as a shortage of clinical nurses, a situation that will become more critical as an aging population requires care.

The UC College of Nursing Jonas Scholars join more than 1,000 future nurse educators and leaders at 140 universities across all 50 states who are supported by Jonas Center programs, the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholars Program and Jonas Veterans Healthcare Program. These scholarships support nurses pursuing PhDs and DNPs, the highest degrees in the nursing field. 

"Our goal is to graduate nurse leaders who are equipped to lead the transformation of health care,” says Greer Glazer,PhD, associate vice president for health affairs at UC and dean of the College of Nursing. "We’re thrilled about this continued partnership to provide financial and leadership development support that allows us to accomplish this goal.”

As a national leader in philanthropic funding of graduate nursing education, the Jonas Center is addressing the critical need for qualified nursing faculty. In 2014, U.S. nursing schools turned away nearly 70,000 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs, due in large part to an insufficient number of faculty, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Plus, nearly two-thirds of registered nurses over age 54 say they are considering retirement, according to a 2015 AMN Healthcare survey of registered nurses.

"In 2008, we set an ambitious goal to support 1,000 Jonas Nurse Scholars,” said Donald Jonas, who co-founded the Center with his wife, Barbara. "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.”

The UC Jonas Nurse Scholars will begin their graduate careers in the fall semester of 2016 and be supported through 2018. The College of Nursing has had four prior Jonas Scholars--three from 2015 and one from 2013 who has graduated. 

The Jonas Nurse Scholar grant was initiated by Donna Shambley-Ebron, PhD, Associate Professor and PhD program director in the College of Nursing. The $50,000 in matching funds will be provided by the UC Graduate School. The College of Nursing will provide up to $2,500 per student in travel support for the scholars to attend the Jonas Scholar Leadership Development Conference in Washington, D.C. in the fall of year two.

"The Jonas Nurse Scholars Program has been a great experience,” says Caroline Morrison, a 2015 UC College of Nursing Jonas Scholar. "You have the opportunity to meet other scholars from across the country and learn from national leaders in our profession. I was able to enhance my leadership skills through seminars and project work.”