Tucson, Arizona - The University of Arizona College of Nursing is one of only 31 U.S. schools of nursing selected to receive a prestigious grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to increase the number of nurses holding PhDs.
The selected schools comprise the fifth cohort of grantees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholars program, which will provide financial support, mentoring and leadership development to nurses who commit to earn their PhDs in three years.
The UA College of Nursing selected two ursing students to receive this scholarship. To support their studies, the program provides scholars with a $75,000 scholarship and the leadership, research and other skills they need to take their nursing careers to the highest levels.
The 2018 UA College of Nursing honorees are Emily Moore, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC, and Jamie Besel, MN, RN.
Besel plans to study the role and application of technology as it relates to self-management and quality of life in underserved rural populations. Moore plans to examine surgical outcomes and how morbidity and mortality differ when looking at distance of residence from the primary surgical center in the pediatric population.
In its landmark nursing report, the Institute of Medicine recommended that our nation double the number of nurses with doctorates. Although enrollment in doctorate of nursing practice programs has increased exponentially, PhD enrollment has seen less growth. The Future of Nursing Scholars program was designed to increase PhD-prepared nurses. Doing so will ensure more nurses are conducting vital research and also will help address the nurse faculty shortage.
The Future of Nursing Scholars program is a multi-funder initiative. In addition to RWJF, Johnson & Johnson, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Sharp HealthCare and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are supporting the Future of Nursing Scholars grants to schools of nursing this year.
“The UA College of Nursing and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are strongly committed to the success of our two current and two new RWJF nursing scholars,” said Lois Loesher, PhD, RN, FAAN, director, UA College of Nursing PhD Program. “These scholars must complete our rigorous PhD program in three years to accelerate their entry into the workforce, with the goal of hastening transformational change in nursing and health care. We thank the RWJF for providing numerous resources and consistent support for these new nursing leaders and their faculty mentors.”
“When this program concludes, we will have graduated more than 200 PhD-prepared nurses. RWJF is thrilled to see the program succeed so well, and we are very thankful for the other funders who have joined us in support of this work,” said Susan Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, co-director of the program and RWJF’s senior adviser for nursing.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
For more than 40 years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve the health and health care of all Americans. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come.
About the University of Arizona College of Nursing
Established in 1957, the UA College of Nursing has been transforming nursing education, research and practice to help people build better futures for 60 years. Consistently ranked among the best programs in the nation, the college is strengthening health care’s largest workforce and the public’s most trusted profession through its undergraduate and graduate programs, offered online and on-campus in Tucson and Phoenix. Headquartered in Tucson, Ariz., where integrative health has been pioneered, the UA College of Nursing is home to the world’s only Integrative Nursing Faculty Fellowship. With key focal strengths in integrative health, cancer prevention and survivorship, and nursing informatics, the college has more than 7,000 alumni worldwide promoting health and wellness in their workplaces and communities. For more information: https://www.nursing.arizona.edu