IWU Gets Grants for Nursing Programs

Indiana Wesleyan University has received an $18,100 grant from Ball Brothers Foundation to encourage more Marion High School students to consider careers in nursing.

IWU was one of only four independent Indiana colleges to receive funding through the Muncie-based Foundation’s annual Venture Fund competition. Recipients were chosen from a field of 34 proposals submitted by 22 colleges.

The grant money will be dedicated to IWU’s Future Nurses Program, which is a community collaboration with Marion High School, the Community Foundation of Grant County, Ivy Tech Community College and the City of Marion.

The primary goal is to develop an after-school program to encourage more diverse students to consider nursing careers. Specifically, the program will be aimed at Hispanic/Latino, African-American and, first-generation college students.

The program also will focus on attracting more men to nursing careers.

Twelve Marion High School students will be chosen to participate in the program in the spring and summer of 2010. If the program is a success, it will be replicated in other cities in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky where IWU has campuses.

High school students interested in nursing will engage in health-related education, service-learning opportunities, mentoring relationships with nurses and student success counseling and support.

IWU students, in turn, will participate in the program and gain hands-on experience from working with high school youths.

The Ball Brothers Foundation Venture Fund is aimed at stimulating creativity and innovation and fostering competition and collaboration among Indiana’s independent colleges and universities. The Fund, now in its 11th year, has disbursed more than $700,000 for 30 innovative programs.

The grant program is administered by Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI), an Indianapolis-based nonprofit corporation that represents the state’s 31 independent colleges and universities. ICI member institutions enroll more than 83,000 students and produce 35 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in Indiana.

IWU also has received $177,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide financial assistance to students enrolled in graduate nursing programs.

IWU's grant was significantly higher than the average award. The federal agency, as part of its Advanced Education Nursing Traineeships program, awarded $16 million to 352 schools - an average award of $45,000.

IWU has received grants under the federal program for several years.

IWU'S funds will be distributed to graduate nursing students for tuition, fees, books and reasonable living expenses. Each student may receive up to $8,800 a year.

Almost 500 graduate students are pursuing Master of Science degrees in nursing at IWU. About 1,500 students are enrolled in various programs leading to Bachelor of Science degrees on nursing at IWU.