Press Release For Immediate Release AACN Awards Grant Monies to 23 Schools of Nursing in Support of Careers in Geriatric Nursing Hartford Foundation Supports Efforts to Improve Care for Older Adults WASHINGTON, D.C., May 3, 2002 - The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) announces that 23 schools of nursing across the country were awarded grants to support the education and career development of geriatric advanced practice nurses. Funded by a generous grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation of New York, monies will be used to provide scholarships for over 160 new nursing students wishing to pursue careers as experts in the delivery of care to older adults. "AACN applauds the Hartford Foundation's commitment to improving geriatric care through its support of nursing education," said Dr. Kathleen Ann Long, AACN's President and Dean of the University of Florida College of Nursing. "Scholarships will enable schools to significantly expand enrollments by removing financial barriers and promoting careers in geriatric nursing." Through the Creating Careers in Geriatric Advanced Practice Nursing project, AACN has awarded scholarship monies to schools of nursing with existing geriatric advanced practice nursing programs to increase student enrollment. The project is committed to increasing the diversity of the advanced practice nursing workforce and to providing networking, mentorship, role modeling, and leadership activities for scholarship awardees and experts in geriatric nursing. "Schools receiving grants have committed a significant amount of resources and faculty to preparing a new cohort of nurses specializing in geriatric care," said Dr. Eileen Sullivan-Marx, chair of the project's Advisory Committee and associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. "These institutions are to be commended for their efforts to recruit and prepare expert clinicians needed to serve the health care needs of older adults throughout the United States." Schools awarded grant monies include Boston College, Case Western Reserve University, Duke University, Emory University, George Mason University, Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus, Northeastern University, Oregon Health & Sciences University, Radford University, Rush University, Seattle Pacific University, University of California-Los Angeles, University of California-San Francisco, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Pennsylvania, University of Rhode Island, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, University of Washington, Wilkes University, and Yale University. Though some institutions will have scholarship monies available by Fall 2002, most schools will begin their programs during the 2003 academic year. Along with increasing the supply of geriatric nurses, this initiative will help to define the role of the geriatric advanced practice nurse and spark the development of a broader range of career opportunities in this nursing specialty area. This step is necessary to improving the field's appeal as an attractive and dynamic career option. In an effort to reach the larger nursing community, AACN will create Web resources to facilitate online communication, disseminate information, and foster networking among scholarship recipients and experts in geriatrics. "Stronger links between students and clinical leaders will help to solidify the role of the geriatric advanced practice nurse and attract new students to the field," said Dr. Corinne H. Rieder, Executive Director of the Hartford Foundation. "With specialized training in geriatric care, nurses prepared through this project will help to advance the Foundation's goal of ensuring quality care for our nation's rapidly increasing older population." The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 550 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research, and practice. The John A. Hartford Foundation, Inc. of New York City is a private philanthropy established in 1929 by John A. Hartford. Mr. Hartford and his brother, George L. Hartford, both former chief executives of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, left the bulk of their estates to the Foundation upon their deaths in the 1950s. Prior to 1979, the Foundation primarily supported clinically-oriented biomedical research projects. Subsequently, it focused its support on improving the quality and financing of health care and enhancing the capacity of the health care system to accommodate the nation's growing elderly population. Since 1995 the Foundation has focused extensively on enhancing the nation's capacity to provide effective and affordable care to its growing older adult population, by current grantmaking related to enhancing geriatric research and training (physicians, nurses, social workers), and integrating and integrating and improving health services for older adults. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 580 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research, and practice. ### CONTACT: Robert Rosseter (202) 463-6930, x231 rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu Top | Media | AACN Home Copyright © 2005 by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.