Follow Up
Scholarship recipient Elizabeth Roberts hopes to work in critical care.
Making Dreams Come True
Giving to Dream Makers Scholarship program changes lives
The support of alumni, friends, businesses, and organizations enhances opportunities for UTA students to fulfill their dreams of becoming successful nursing professionals. Make a lasting impact on the lives of these dedicated scholars and of our renowned faculty by donating online. Simply go to uta.edu/nursing and click on Make a Gift Now.
Elizabeth Roberts was working as a personal banker but soon realized her real passion was nursing. A 2011 biology graduate, she wanted to find a way she could focus on earning her BSN.
“I felt that it was important to give my undivided attention to my classwork,” Roberts says. “While I could have worked and gone to school full time, to pay for living expenses, I felt that I would have done myself and my patients a disservice.”
She was able to focus on her studies full time thanks to a scholarship funded by the Dream Makers program. Roberts quit her job and entered the Off-Campus Accelerated Program.
She graduated in May.
“The scholarship helped tremendously,” she says. “It’s helped me pay for tuition and books, and I didn’t have to rely as much on student loans.”
Since 2002, the Dream Makers Scholarship program has contributed more than $3 million toward scholarships for students in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation. The generous donations support the dreams of some of the nation's most promising students. These future leaders in health have the potential to improve the lives of their clients and patients, effect change in the health care industry, and positively impact their communities and the world.
Gifts come in the form of individual scholarships from sponsors who give annually as well as from endowments funded by donors whose support will continue in perpetuity. The roster of Dream Makers includes individual sponsors, trusts, hospital systems, and other community partners.
Recipients attend the Dream Makers Scholarship Luncheon, held in early March, and sit with their scholarship donor. In many instances, the student and donor remain in contact after the student graduates.
J. and Lynn Luke look forward to attending the luncheon each year and are happy to support the scholarship program, particularly given the nation’s critical need for health care providers.
“I feel it’s a privilege to help out students,” J. Luke says. “I was a student myself many years ago, and I know it’s a good thing to support students focusing on earning their degrees.”
For more information about the Dream Makers program, contact Sandra Golightly at sgolightly@uta.edu or 817-272-4793.