The Wayne State University College of Nursing is one of only 28 schools of nursing nationwide to receive a grant to increase the number of nurses holding Ph.D.’s. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Future of Nursing Scholars program will provide financial support, mentoring and leadership development to nurses who commit to earn their Ph.D.’s in three years. Wayne State’s College of Nursing will select one nursing student to receive this prestigious scholarship.
“The Future of Nursing Scholars program is making an incredible impact in real time. These nurses will complete their Ph.D.’s in three years, a much quicker progression than is typically seen in nursing Ph.D. programs,” said Julie Fairman, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Future of Nursing Scholars program co-director and the Nightingale professor of nursing and the chair of the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.
The Future of Nursing Scholars program is a multi-funder initiative. In addition to RWJF, Johnson & Johnson, Northwell Health, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Sharp HealthCare, Rush University Medical Center, Care Institute Group, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are supporting the Future of Nursing Scholars grants to schools of nursing this year.
Wayne State’s College of Nursing is receiving its grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The college will select one scholar this spring. The student will begin the Future of Nursing Scholars program this summer and their Ph.D. studies in the fall.
“It is an honor to be selected to participate in the RWJF Future of Nursing Scholars Program for the second consecutive year,” said Laurie M. Lauzon Clabo, Ph.D., RN, Wayne State University College of Nursing dean and professor. “This prestigious award will allow our selected scholar to complete Ph.D. studies in a timely manner and to make substantive contributions to the discipline as a leader and researcher even earlier in his or her career. In the college, we are fully committed to helping to achieve the Institute of Medicine’s goal of increasing the number of doctorally prepared nurses in the United States. We are deeply grateful for the generosity of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and for the recognition of our commitment and success in the preparation of nurse researchers at the Wayne State College of Nursing.”
In its landmark nursing report, the Institute of Medicine recommended that the country double the number of nurses with doctorates; doing so will prepare and enable nurses to lead change to advance health, promote nurse-led science and discovery, and put more educators in place to prepare the next generation of nurses. The Future of Nursing Scholars program is intended to help address that recommendation.
“We were pleased to see that enrollment in doctorate of nursing practice programs has increased 160% from 2010 to 2014. However, we want to ensure that we also have Ph.D.-prepared nurse leaders in faculty and research roles. In the same time period, Ph.D. enrollment has only increased by 14.6%. The nurses funded through the Future of Nursing Scholars program will make important contributions to the field and be well-prepared to mentor other nurses,” said Susan Hassmiller, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, co-director of the program and RWJF’s senior adviser for nursing.
The 51 nurses supported in this round will join 109 Scholars across the three previous cohorts. The program plans to add a fifth cohort, which will bring the number of funded Scholars to more than 200 nurses.
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. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.
Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering nearly 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 27,000 students. For more information, visit wayne.edu.