The National League for Nursing Foundation for Nursing Education (NLN) recently announced the NLN Foundation Minority Faculty Preparation Scholarship. Two $5,000 scholarships will be awarded to students in graduate nursing education programs who identify as underrepresented minorities and are preparing for the nurse faculty role. Applications are available on the NLN website, and must be submitted by the August 10, 2007.
While all minorities together comprise 30 percent of the population, they remain under-represented in nursing, accounting for only 12 percent of the nation's nurses. According to the NLN 2006 Faculty Census Survey, similar disparities exist in the number of under-represented minority faculty members within nursing education.
As NLN Foundation chair Kathryn Mershon explained, "Research has indicated that access to health care services and patient outcomes can be significantly improved when patients have health care providers that are more like them ethnically and culturally. However, the growing disparity in underrepresented minorities among faculty members and nursing students make those outcomes unlikely." Added NLN CEO Beverly Malone, "With this new scholarship program, the NLN Foundation is taking an important step in helping to increase diversity among nurse educators."
For more information about the NLN Foundation or to download a copy of the application, please visit www.nlnfoundation.org or contact Nicole DeMent, development associate, at 212-812-0348.
The mission of the NLN Foundation for Nursing Education is to raise, steward, and distribute funds that promote excellence in nursing education to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce.
