For the future of health care

On a warm autumn evening nearly two years ago, I had the pleasure of announcing Empowering Health, the School of Nursing’s $45 million philanthropic campaign to a gathering of our alumni and friends. Only the second major fundraising campaign in our 110-year history, Empowering Health signifies our steadfast commitment to the communities that are depending on us to educate the health care leaders of tomorrow. We are adamant in our commitment to advance nursing education and research.

Since the kickoff, several have asked, “What does empowering health really mean?” The answer comes easily when you consider what the campaign will allow us to accomplish. When we reduce the average debt of a student to pursue their degree (currently more than $35,000 for BSN students and more than $87,000 for DNPs), we will be able to recruit students who are more representative of the communities they will serve. That is empowering health. When we address the decline in federal funding for research and discovery, we are empowering health. When we step up our efforts to recruit the best and brightest professors because we recognize the staggering number of nursing faculty who are approaching or at retirement age, we are empowering health.

The other question I have often received since we launched the campaign is, “why now?” My reply is that the health care needs of our communities has never been greater. Traditional funding sources cannot sustain our success. We need our philanthropic partners more than ever before. Our alumni and friends have answered the call and helped us raise over $36 million to date. We ask those who haven’t already joined us to help achieve our goal before the campaign closing date of June 30, 2021. The following pages will illustrate how your strategic investment today will empower our school to:
• Meet the financial needs of our students by increasing the number and size of scholarships to ensure that the most promising and passionate students are able to choose nursing
• Support research projects ranging from small-scale feasibility studies to predictive modeling that employs our school’s field shaping expertise in big data science
• Recruit and retain outstanding nurse educators who will teach hundreds of nursing students over their careers and strengthen our ability to attract funding for ground-breaking faculty-led research
If you have already made a gift to the campaign, you have our sincere gratitude. If you have not, we invite you to join us in this exciting opportunity.

Connie White Delaney
Professor and Dean