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University of Maryland School of Nursing Receives CareFirst's Project RN Scholarship
October 8, 2008
Baltimore, Md. - For the second consecutive year, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) has awarded the University of Maryland School of Nursing a ProjectRN Scholarship to assist a student in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. A collaborative effort between CareFirst and the School of Nursing, ProjectRN is aimed at helping to tackle Maryland's shortage of nurses by finding ways to address the lack of nursing faculty to educate new nurses. The scholarship program helps students to complete their graduate degree and qualify them for teaching in a nursing program within two years by providing them with financial support.
This year's scholarship recipient, DNP student Marian Grant, MSN, will receive $80,000 over two years – a $40,000 stipend each year – for tuition, fees, books, and living expenses. Like all funded scholars in the program, Grant will be required to commit to four years of full-time employment as a faculty member in a nursing education program in Maryland, the District of Columbia, or Northern Virginia – the region in which CareFirst has committed $1 million to ProjectRN.
Grant, for whom nursing is a second career, worked as an advertising executive for more than 20 years before entering the nursing profession. “This scholarship will allow me to pursue a goal I have had as a nurse – to become a nurse educator so I can teach people about palliative care,” she says.
“Nursing faculty members are in great demand in colleges and universities as the nurse shortage worsens,” says Robin Newhouse, PhD, RN, CNAA, BC, CNOR, associate professor and director of the School of Nursing's DNP program. “Marian Grant is a nurse practitioner with expertise in palliative care. As a faculty member, she will have a significant impact on students at both undergraduate and graduate levels when she completes the DNP program. Scholarship opportunities such as ProjectRN are exactly what DNP students need to help close the gap on the nursing faculty shortage.”
For more information about the ProjectRN Scholarship, call 410-706-7522. To learn more about the School of Nursing's Doctor of Nursing Practice program, visithttp://nursing.umaryland.edu/academic-programs/grad/doctoral-degree/dnp