STATESBORO — Georgia Southern University’s School of Nursing received more than $2.2 million in grant funding this summer, which will serve three purposes: help to establish a center for nursing scholarship and research, introduce a new graduate-level Chronic Illness Certificate Program and provide scholarships to students seeking family nurse practitioner degrees.
The school received one grant from the University System of Georgia and two from the Health Resources Services Administration.
In place to support faculty retention and recruitment, the grant from USG will give Georgia Southern University approximately $221,000 over a two-year period. The grant will help establish the groundwork for a center for nursing scholarship and research, providing support services for junior and senior faculty.
“The grant will allow faculty to obtain tenure, help them to provide better instruction in addition to advancing their own interests and capabilities,” said Sharon Radzyminski, Ph.D., chairwoman of the GSU School of Nursing. “The center will be a great asset to Georgia Southern University as it will help promote the careers and successes of our current professors.”
Meanwhile, the multiple chronic conditions grant from HRSA is being used to develop the Chronic Illness Certificate Program, which will provide educational opportunities for nutrition, public health, military science and family nurse practitioner students to work together in interprofessional teams while providing health care to military personnel, their families, veterans and members of the community who suffer from MCC.
During the program, a variety of issues will be discussed, including: MCC; disabilities and laws associated with providing care to those patients; healthy living; and issues common among patients suffering from diseases that require end-of-life and palliative care.
The grant also provides for faculty salaries and technology to support the initiation and promotion of the program over a three-year period. Available to all majors treating chronic illness, graduate students may begin enrolling in fall 2015.
In addition, the second HRSA grant is a traineeship grant that will support tuition, books and stipends for FNP students to complete their education. The grant covers a two-year period.
“In the past, the School of Nursing has received traineeship monies,” said Deborah Allen, Ph.D., the graduate program director of the School of Nursing. “However, at that time, the grant was submitted and almost all of the schools who submitted an application received some type of funds. I think the most we had received was approximately $50,000. This time, the submission was a competitive process and we received close to $700,000 for two years to support students wishing to obtain a Master of Science in nursing degree with a FNP focus.”
Grant applications are scored based on Health Professionals Shortage Areas status, race, ethnicity, disadvantage status and other criteria.
For more information on the School of Nursing and its programs, go to http://chhs.georgiasouthern.edu/nursing.