Support the School of Nursing

“With nursing, you get to meet so many different people and learn their stories. You can help to make the world a better place—you can create a lasting impact.”

Emily Hanna, BSN '19

Honor A Legacy: Auditorium Seat Naming

Canary Savage Girardeau receives a round of applause.In honor of the School of Nursing’s 100th anniversary, we are offering an opportunity to establish your legacy, honor a respected colleague, or celebrate a loved one in our auditorium. Our auditorium hosts year-round lectures and programming for our students, alumni, and friends. It represents a thirst for continual learning, and provides a sense of welcome and connection for our community.

You can name one seat or many for a gift of $1000 each, labeled with a custom inscribed plaque. Please note that we have a limited number of seats available. We do hope you will consider making this gift in honor or memory of you and a loved one today.

All donations made through this campaign will be directed toward the School of Nursing’s Center for Aging Research and Education (CARE). CARE supports communities and caregivers across the state to promote healthy aging and improve the health and wellbeing of older adults. All gifts are tax-deductible.

Learn More

The Bowers Fellow

Barbara J Bowers, PhD, RN, FAAN
Barbara J Bowers, PhD, RN, FAAN

The Bowers Fellow was established in honor of Professor Dr. Barbara J. Bowers, in recognition of the legacy she has created as a nurse educator, researcher, and philanthropist. The Bowers Fellow honors and thanks those who join Dr. Bowers in creating their own nursing legacy by including the School of Nursing in their estate plans.

Legacy gifts include bequests from a will or trust as well as other planned gift vehicles. Your legacy gift can be designated to support what you are most passionate about—including scholarships, research, faculty support, and more.

With your help, the School will remain a leader in nursing service, education, and research, expanding our capacity to support students, faculty, and research in order to respond to Wisconsin’s changing health care needs.

Learn More

Where Your Gift Will Have the Most Impact

Doctoral Student Support Fund

As Baby Boomers age, the demand for nurses grows. The University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing recognizes the increasing demand for our graduates and wants to answer the call. Yet to prepare more nurses, we need more nursing faculty—nurses who have earned either a PhD or DNP (doctor of nursing practice).

To attract promising students who will become nurse leaders in research and advanced practice, we must provide financial support to offset the costs of graduate education. Your support helps us to attract the best PhD and DNP students who will, in turn, prepare the next generation of nurses.

Enable the most promising students to pursue doctorate-level nursing education.

Second-Career Nursing Scholarships

Nursing students who already possess a bachelor’s degree are typically ineligible for traditional federal student aid. This can be an insurmountable barrier that prevents some students from pursuing a nursing degree at all. Other students must maintain their current careers during their studies in order to fund their education. Many do so while juggling the demands of raising children or caring for other relatives. These competing responsibilities make a rigorous program even tougher.

Your support of second-career scholarships makes nursing education more viable for students who cannot obtain traditional federal financial aid. These scholarships enable second-career students to pursue their education full time (or close to it) and with fewer demands on their time and attention. With financial assistance, students can also complete their studies and enter the nursing workforce more quickly.

Give second-career students a more direct path to the nursing profession.

Professorships and Chairs

Professorships and chairs enable the School of Nursing to attract and retain high-quality faculty who not only improve health care and advance the profession through their research, but also prepare the next generation of nurses through education and mentorship. Just as the nation is experiencing a nursing shortage, higher education is grappling with a nursing faculty shortage. Doctorate-prepared nurse scientists have a choice in where to house their research. Professorships and chairs help the School of Nursing to attract the best in the field to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Help the School recruit and retain the best Nursing faculty.

Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (CIPE)

Healthcare is a team effort. The majority of nurses work in collaboration with physicians, pharmacists, therapists, and social service providers. When members of these healthcare teams understand each provider’s role and work in concert, they deliver better care.

CIPE is a partnership between UW–Madison’s School of Nursing, School of Medicine and Public Health, and School of Pharmacy, in collaboration with schools and colleges across campus. The center will work to improve the team-based care process and to better prepare health-professions students for collaborative practice on interprofessional healthcare teams.

Prepare future healthcare providers to work together as teams to deliver better care.

Accelerated Undergraduate Nursing Program

We are developing an accelerated undergraduate nursing program to serve students who already hold a bachelor’s degree in a different discipline. This program expedites baccalaureate nursing education by eliminating UW–Madison undergraduate admissions and electives requirements. This program increases total BSN enrollment and shortens the path to practice, both of which directly address nursing workforce shortages.

Help to launch a program that will contribute more bachelor’s prepared nurses to the Wisconsin workforce.

Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning Fund

We are creating an endowment to sustain our investment in our state-of-the-art active learning environments, enabling us to keep our educational spaces and simulation facilities current. This allows us to continue offering relevant and realistic learning experiences to our students in our effort to prepare then for practice in the ever-changing and challenging healthcare industry. When new nurses find familiar setting and experiences as they enter practice, they contribute to healthcare teams more quickly and confidently. This fund will also support ongoing faculty development to ensure that our educators can leverage current technology in their teaching, learning, and research.

Help new nurses to enter the workforce with competence and confidence in their skills.

Katharyn A. May Nursing Innovation Fund

Through research, nurse scientists identify ways to improve health and advance the nursing practice. However, the path from discovery to implementation is one that takes, on average, seventeen years.

This fund will provide resources to facilitate, support, and expedite the process of turning discoveries into innovations that can be integrated into existing healthcare delivery systems. It will provide financial support for translation and implementation efforts not covered by traditional research funding sources. This includes business plan and business model development, bridge funding to sustain projects between grants and self-sufficiency, and start-up funding for pilot projects.

Improve healthcare by integrating research discoveries into practice.

Center for Aging Research and Education Fund

The Center for Aging Research and Education (CARE) works with healthcare professionals, care providers, and community organizations to improve the quality of life for older adults. CARE develops and disseminates best practices for the care of older adults. It also facilitates innovative research and teaching strategies and develops relevant and accessible resources for care providers and practicing nurses, such as an online residency program for nurses who are new to long-term care.

Improve the lives of older adults and the people who care for them.

Giving News

“I got to see health care from the perspective of a patient before I ever became a professional. And I realized I wanted to be a nurse because the nurses knew exactly what I needed. I didn’t even have to ask. … The nurse was concerned about my overall well-being, and that was the service I wanted to provide.”

Uchenna Jones ’02, ’09

Contact Us

Isabel Andrews

Position title: Senior Director of Development

Email: isabel.andrews@supportuw.org

Phone: 608-263-6007