$3.5 Million Woodruff Grant Establishes Nell Fellows Program
As the nationwide nursing shortage lingers and as staffing challenges grow, the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation hopes to bolster the workforce and advance nursing education at Emory with a $3.5 million grant to the School of Nursing to create a nurse fellowship program.
The Nell Fellows program will provide continued nursing education for recent School of Nursing alumni who have chosen to work at Emory Healthcare as clinical staff nurses. Fifteen students started in the four-year, postgraduate Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program this fall, and 60 additional students will begin studies in fall 2023.
“I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to demonstrate another model of how academic and practice leaders can collaborate to address the acute national shortage of nurses,” says Linda McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN, dean of the School of Nursing. “This program will help us move the needle in increasing the retention of nurses at Emory Healthcare by enhanced investment into their journey of lifelong learning.”
“There are no easy or quick answers to the nationwide crisis in nursing, but we hope that our grant will help nurture a new generation of Emory nurses and propel them into satisfying nursing careers,” says P. Russell Hardin, president of the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation.
The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation seeks to improve the quality of life in Georgia by investing in health, education, economic opportunity, and community vitality. Robert W. Woodruff, the late legendary leader of The Coca-Cola Company, became a major benefactor of Emory beginning in 1937. In 1979, he and his brother, George Woodruff, gave Emory a then-record sum of $105 million. Since then, the Woodruff Foundation has continued to support Emory University and its entities.
