by Sheryl Marlar '90
Pictured: Brian (Keith) Brooks, Vera Campbell-Jones and Dr. Laurie Ware.
Registered nurses in the Tanner Health System School of Nursing will have some extra financial assistance this year when completing their education to become nurse faculty members thanks to a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA.)
HRSA awarded a $300,000 Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) grant to the Tanner Health System School of Nursing to be used in the 2015-16 school year. The purpose of the NFLP is to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty for the education of nurses needed to address the nursing workforce shortage.
“The HRSA/NFLP grant provides financial assistance to MSN students in the Nurse Educator Track and EdD Students in the EdD in Nursing,” said Dr. Susan Welch, EdD director and assistant professor. “This funding enables students to obtain a degree they might not otherwise have been able to afford as many of our students have families and work full time.”
The grant program allows partial loan forgiveness for students who graduate and serve as full-time nursing faculty for the prescribed period of time.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing reports that almost 70,000 qualified students were denied admission to professional programs in 2014, due largely in part to the lack of qualified faculty to teach them.
“The NFLP allows the Tanner Health System School of Nursing to address the need for nurses prepared for academic roles in Georgia and across the nation through our MSN nurse educator track and our EdD in Nursing Education program,” said Dr. Jenny Schuessler, dean and professor for the Tanner Health System School of Nursing.
UWG’s Tanner Health System School of Nursing is pleased to be selected as a recipient of the NFLP grant.
“Our outstanding alumni, relevant curricula and extraordinary faculty have led to the Tanner Health System School of Nursing having a reputation as the educator of nurse educators,” Schuessler said.
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