HU NURSING SCHOOL AWARDED $1.6 MILLION TO INCREASE ENROLLMENT

Hampton, VA - The Hampton University School of Nursing, in an ongoing effort to combat the national shortage of nurses, has been awarded $1,689,452 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Nursing to implement two new programs. The programs will increase the numbers of individuals enrolling in the undergraduate department.

The first project, "Pathways to Baccalaureate Education," was funded for $944,740 and will focus on offering an accelerated program for second degree, career-changing students, as well as, military and paramedic personnel. A more traditional second project, "HU Nurses Ultimate Recruiting Strategies for Excellence (HU-NURSE)" was funded for $744,712 and is designed to develop and implement an aggressive recruitment and retention program.

"The HU-NURSE Project will build on the School’s recruitment model and add innovative retention approaches to reflect a recruitment, progression, and graduation model," said Mary Bradley-Laster, project director and recruiter. Hampton’s nursing faculty will provide specially designed tutorial courses, individualized academic counseling and advising, financial management seminars, and professional socialization experiences. This project will definitely fill the gap affecting progression and retention rates through early detection of barriers to graduation.

Both programs respond to the national shortage of registered nurses and to the need to prepare baccalaureate nurses who will serve a population of uninsured, underinsured, unserved, and underserved individuals, families, and groups. Further, the programs are designed to respond to the need for a more diverse and culturally competent nursing workforce.

"While the Pathways Program will focus on increasing the number of nontraditional students, we will also provide faculty development workshops to increase faculty’s skill in mentoring the students," said Johnnie B. Bunch, project director and chairperson of the Department of Undergraduate Nursing Education. This project will also recruit students from rural and underserved areas. These students are expected to return to their homes and increase the quality of health care in their communities.