The Campaign for the School of Nursing
Goal: $13 million
A solid foundation
The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing has been
a leader in education, service and research for more than a century.
The school belongs to one of 84 comprehensive nursing schools in
the nation, boasts recent reaccreditations and has enjoyed the
status
of national ranking since nursing schools were included in this
rating system in 1996. For more than half a decade we have experienced
a
continuing enrollment growth, phenomenal growth in research funding
and an increased presence in the community with our service enterprise.
We have an endowment that has grown by 200 percent in the last
six years and strong alumni and faculty donor participation.
Because
we have fostered an environment of philanthropy, more than $1 million
of new money has been added to our endowment since July 2000, and
since 1998 we have been able to award more than $1 million because
of the endowment for student scholarships, fellowships, professorships
and other activities that advance our school.
Our challenge
Our current national nursing shortage has been emerging for five
years as potential students have chosen other professions and
the current workforce has aged. Furthermore, while the demand
for services
escalates and illness treatments become increasingly complex,
replacement by new graduates no longer counterbalances retirement
of current
nurses. Compounding the problem is the stark reality that the
nation’s
aging population requires more, not less, care. At the same time,
schools of nursing are experiencing a decline in the supply of
nurse faculty; without faculty to educate there cannot be an
adequate supply
of new nurses. Experts estimate between now and the year 2010
nationwide, one million new nurses will be needed. In order for
the supply
of new nurses to meet the need, every school of nursing in the
nation
needs to expand its current enrollment by 50 percent.
| Our solutions |
| • |
Prepare to expand our undergraduate
enrollment leading to original licensure by 100 percent and
our graduate enrollment by 25 percent and attract groups of
people previously underrepresented.
|
| • |
Expand the number of nurse faculty.
|
| • |
Create innovative accessible executive and continuing education
programs so that nurses who are in practice, stay in practice.
|
| • |
Build state-of-the-science facilities to effectively and
efficiently educate the next generation of nurses.
|
| • |
Strengthen our programs of service outreach to create sustainable
safety nets for the under- and un-served citizens of Virginia.
|
| • |
Enhance our programs of research.
|
| • |
Enlist the support of others.
|
Our opportunity
Increasing the enrollment in nursing schools has been a major strategy
to address the nursing shortage across the country. Many
schools of nursing, however, find themselves unable to accommodate
more students due to limited resources, including shortages of nursing
faculty,
reductions in funding and lack of space to expand. VCU
School
of Nursing is no exception.
The building occupied by the School of Nursing
was built in 1928 as a dormitory. Inadequate for both current
and future
needs of its students and faculty, it is scheduled to be demolished,
according
to VCU’s master plan. Like many old buildings, it
was constructed long before the advent of wireless classrooms,
Web-based learning,
and computer models for simulated clinical experiences.
VCU School of Nursing needs a new building, and on Oct.
30, 2003, President Trani announced preliminary plans for
one.
He challenged
supporters of the school to increase the goal of the school’s
Campaign for Solutions to ensure construction. The school’s
campaign is part of a $330.5 million university-wide campaign
launched in July 1999 and will conclude in June 2007. The
48,000-square-foot
building will be constructed on the north side of Leigh
Street at its intersection with 11th Street, near the VCU
Medical
Center Bookstore,
the Larrick Center and Cabaniss Hall, where many of our
students live. Completion is expected in 2007.
Our answer
The need for increased numbers of nurses, combined with
this unique opportunity to design a new “home” for
the school, positions the school to create partnership
opportunities with private
donors
to establish scholarships, professorships, clinical outreach
programs, research support and technological advances
unavailable through
state funding.
| Fund-raising priorities |
Building
|
$3,000,000 |
|
Building enhancements
|
$1,200,000 |
Endowment
|
$6,510,000 |
| |
To attract and retain students
|
$3,000,000 |
To attract and retain faculty |
$2,750,000 |
| |
Lifelong Learning Institute
|
$500,000 |
| |
Other Endowments
|
$260,000 |
Current needs
|
$2,290,000 |
| |
To attract and retain students |
$1,300,000 |
| |
Annual Giving |
$700,000 |
| |
Lifelong Learning Institute start up |
$200,000 |
| |
Research Equipment |
$90,000 |
Total campaign
|
$13,000,000 |
Contact
For more information about the School of Nursing and its campaign,
please contact James Parrish, interim director of development
for the School of Nursing:
Phone: (804) 828-0724
E-mail: jtparrish@vcu.edu
Web site: http://www.nursing.vcu.edu
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