Healthy Gift
Moritz family helps College of Nursing establish $1 million research chair for geriatric nursing
Spring 2012 · Comment ·
The largest nursing program in Texas has received its first endowed faculty chair.
A gift from the Moritz family, namesakes of Moritz Dealerships, will establish a $1 million endowed chair of geriatric nursing in the UT Arlington College of Nursing. The contribution was given in honor of the college’s achievements and will enable the University to advance research in the growing field of elder care.
“This gift will help us attract the kind of prominent scholar who can move our research agenda forward and inspire our students to see themselves as scientists and scholars for the future,” nursing Dean Elizabeth C. Poster says.
Dr. Poster notes that many doctoral and graduate nursing students are gravitating to geriatrics research. Faculty and students are particularly interested in advances that can boost the effectiveness of caregivers, improve the quality of life for the aging population, and increase opportunities for independent living among the elderly.
UT Arlington will match the $500,000 commitment to create the $1 million Moritz Chair of Geriatric Nursing Research, the second major gift from the Moritz family in the past year. Last fall the family pledged $750,000 toward College Park Center.
The Moritzes have long supported the College of Nursing, contributing to scholarships, academics, and the Smart Hospital.
“What they are doing is remarkable,” says John David Moritz, president of Moritz Dealerships. “Health care is so important to our society, and there is such demand for these students and the services they will provide to all of us.”
Since fall 2008, enrollment in the College of Nursing has more than tripled from 1,912 to 5,949 in fall 2011. A record 1,244 students earned Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees in the 2010-11 academic year, more than four times as many as in 2007-08.
