Helping develop nursing leaders

Early in 2016, the College of Nursing and Health Innovation joined an elite group of U.S. nursing programs when it was selected by the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare to participate in its nurse leaders program.

The program is part of a nationwide effort to increase the number of nursing faculty with doctoral degrees. Less than 10 percent of nursing faculty in the nation have doctorates, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. As part of the program, doctoral students at each participating school are selected as Jonas Scholars. The scholars each receive an annual stipend of $10,000 a year for two years from the center.

"These scholarships help nurse educators like me reach the top of our profession as we prepare the next generation of care providers," says Ruth Bargainer, one of the four Ph.D. students chosen to join the College's inaugural Jonas Scholars.

In addition to Bargainer, who is studying the impact of simulation as an educational technique in nursing curricula, other scholars include Megan Harper, whose research interest is the success of nursing students; Cecilia Lijauco, who is studying disparities in cardiovascular health and outcomes among African-American women; and Elesha Roberts, who is researching the quality of life of older hypertensive African-Americans.