Since 2006, AACN’s partnering organizations have contributed over $24 million to enhancing diversity in nursing
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) announced that the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future has renewed its support for the Minority Nurse Scholars Program. Designed to address the shortage of nurse faculty and enhance diversity among nurse educators, this collaborative effort provides generous financial support, mentoring, and leadership development to graduate students from minority backgrounds with aspirations to teach in our nation’s schools of nursing.
The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future – AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars Program was launched in September 2007 to support full-time students from groups under-represented in nursing with an interest in teaching. This program invites applications from students in doctoral and clinically-focused master’s programs who will serve as nurse faculty after completing their degree programs. Scholarship recipients are selected by an application review committee, and awards in the amount of $18,000 are disbursed each summer. All scholarship recipients are expected to attend AACN’s annual faculty development conference and meet regularly with an identified mentor who will assist in preparing them to assume leadership roles in academia. To date, AACN has helped to prepare 43 minority faculty scholars through this initiative and a similar effort (no longer active) launched by AACN and The California Endowment. For an introduction to all previous scholarship winners, see http://www.aacn.nche.edu/students/scholarships/minority.
AACN is currently accepting applications from students for the next round of scholarship awards. The deadline to apply is May 2, 2012, and new winners will be announced in August 2012. To download an application, see http://www.aacn.nche.edu/students/scholarships/2012johnson---johnson-application.doc.
Leading Efforts to Diversify Nursing Education
As a central component of AACN’s core values and strategic plan, enhancing diversity in nursing faculty and student populations has been at the forefront of the organization’s advocacy work and programming for more than 10 years. AACN has effectively leveraged its resources to address this national priority given the strong connection between a diverse healthcare workforce and the ability to offer quality, culturally competent patient care. By providing scholarships and leadership development opportunities to minority students pursuing graduate degrees, AACN is creating a cadre of future nurse educators and leaders of the profession. The organization’s work to embed standards related to cultural competency in the Essentials documents that guide the development of baccalaureate, master’s, and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs are helping to better equip future nurses to care for an increasingly diverse patient population. Additionally, AACN’s work as the National Program Office for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s New Careers in Nursing scholarship program has opened the door for 2,317 new nurses to enter the profession, all of whom come from ethnically diverse and/or disadvantaged backgrounds.
“AACN applauds our partnering organizations for their strong commitment to enhancing diversity in nursing, which has resulted in more than $24 million in scholarship funding for minority nursing students since 2006,” added Dr. Potempa. “As the voice for professional nursing education, AACN will continue to use its national platform to advocate for more programs and federal resources to assist schools of nursing with their efforts to remove financial barriers to nursing education and faculty careers for all populations in need.”
For more information on issues related to diversity in nursing education and AACN’s efforts to address this critical issue, see http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Diversity.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the national voice for university and four-year college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 690 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research, and practice. Web site: http://www.aacn.nche.edu
CONTACT:
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)
Robert Rosseter, 202-463-6930, x 231
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America District of Columbia
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Education University Continuing Other Education Health Hospitals Training Nursing
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