Acceleration of Support

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Aids Nursing Program

2009 RWJF Scholars: (front row) Alison Clarkson, Courtney Edwards, Shannon Polson, Deondra Wheeler, and Crystal Williams; (back row) Ja-Lin Chen, Jason Baldwin, Loryn Jamison, Ashley James, David Pair, Daniel Woloschuk, Vanessa Miller, and Amber Hampton

The UAB School of Nursing (SON) is one of 58 nursing schools to receive funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program. The SON has received $130,000 to help strengthen Alabama’s pipeline of new nurses by providing financial aid to students who enroll in UAB’s fast-track nursing degree program, the accelerated master’s nursing pathway (AMNP).

The RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program was created through the American Association of Colleges in Nursing (AACN) to enable schools of nursing to expand entry-level accelerated programs at the bachelor’s and/or master’slevel. To encourage diversity in the workforce, scholarship award preference is given to students from groups underrepresented in nursing or from disadvantaged backgrounds. UAB will award 13 RWJF scholarships this year.

“One of the major barriers to recruitment of underrepresented and disadvantaged second-degree students into the AMNP is the limited financial assistance during the first phase of the program,” says Elizabeth Stullenbarger, D.S.N., R.N., associate dean for academic affairs at the UAB School of Nursing. “An RWJF scholarship will provide the needed funding until students become licensed as registered nurses and enter a paid residency program while completing requirements for the master’s degree.”

Maintaining the Momentum / Summer/Fall 2009