March 2 - Scholarships

When I talk about developing nurses for the many demands of the faculty role, I usually talk about mentoring. I’ll never forget the many experienced nurses who supported me through the twists and turns of my professional career, those caring individuals who saw something in me that I was not always sure was there. I feel strongly that mentorship is essential to the growth and success of our profession.

I speak less often about money, but I will do so today. With far too little funding available from all sources to support the education of nurse faculty and ultimately the next generation of nurses, we at the NLN are excited to announce our 2016 Faculty Scholarship awards from the NLN Foundation for Nursing Education. This program supports graduate education for a diverse population of nurses pursuing advanced degrees in preparation for careers as full-time nurse educators. The foundation will award scholarships up to $8,000 that can be used for tuition, support for a dissertation or thesis, or necessary travel. Note that applications are due May 31 and please, share this information with colleagues.

Colleagues, also consider how you can help sustain and even expand this program with a gift to the foundation. Start with a visit to the foundation website and read about the several endowed funds specifically designated for scholarship aid. You may want to add to one of these existing funds or provide much needed – and much appreciated – unrestricted funds. With Nurses Week right around the corner, May 6-12, this may be just the right time to provide support for a future colleague.

I’d like to give you one example of the direct positive impact of our scholarship program. Janet A. Levey, a scholarship winner in 2014, used her award from the NLN Foundation to defray some of her research expenses. Now a PhD and assistant professor at Concordia University in Wisconsin, Dr. Levey will soon have her article “Measuring Nurse Educators’ Willingness to Adopt Inclusive Teaching Strategies” published in the NLN research journal Nursing Education Perspectives. I can’t wait to read it, and I ask you once again: Won’t you help us expand and grow this essential scholarship program? Before leaving the foundation and its worthy goals, let me reintroduce you to Tatiana Nin, whom many of you know through her work as grant manager for ACE.S. With her work toward her master’s degree in public administration at George Washington University well under way, Tatiana has been promoted to development specialist for the foundation. She is doing a terrific job and will be happy to answer your questions (tnin@nln.org). Congratulations, Tatiana, for work well done. I anticipate great things for the future.

Changing course, let me tell you about a very exciting development for nursing: the Leap into Nursing Campaign by the Nurses on Boards Coalition. Don’t be surprised by the name Leap into Nursing – we can’t simply afford to stroll into leadership.

NOBC was formed in 2014 in response to the landmark Institute of Medicine (IOM) Future of Nursing report. Its goal is “to improve the health of communities and the nation through the service of nurses on boards and other bodies.” As stated on the NOBC website “all boards benefit from the unique perspective of nurses to achieve the goals of improved health and efficient and effective health care systems at the local, state and national levels.” The specific goal is to have more than 10,000 nurses on corporate, health-related, and other boards, panels, and commissions by 2020.

Right now, all nurses currently on boards are being asked to sign up and be counted. I hope also that you will share the coalition’s goals with your students and open their eyes to the role they can play in the future of nursing, leading change and advancing health.

As usual I am totally excited about the possibilities of the NOW and the FUTURE. Join me in supporting our colleagues who will shape our future, and expanding our collective influence as nurses dedicated to advancing the health of the nation and the global community.