University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to receive $5 million gift to address nursing shortage

Joanne and William E. Conway Jr.’s gift through the Bedford Falls Foundation is the largest in school history to support nursing students, according to a release from the university.

The money more than doubles the amount of annual scholarship funding available for the school’s baccalaureate program.

“I am inspired by the Conways’ thoughtful and innovative approach to addressing one of the nation’s significant health care challenges through their support of nursing education,” said UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz in a news release. “Nurses are vital to a compassionate health care system — we cannot do it without them — and Carolina feels keenly its responsibility to help meet the need for more nurses in our state.

“We are grateful for the Conways’ support and partnership in that effort.”

The money will be paid out over five years, the university said. The gift will provide support for up to 250 undergraduate nursing students each year, and will help the school expand enrollment by up to 50% to help address the state’s nursing shortage.

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North Carolina has also embarked on a $20 million private campaign to help fund a new Nursing Education Building to accommodate the larger class sizes its current home cannot.

“We are deeply grateful to the Conways for their steadfast commitment to nursing education and to the nursing profession as a whole,” said School of Nursing dean Valerie Howard in the release. “The Conways are making a Carolina Nursing education more financially accessible to more students, which will positively impact our profession and, most importantly, our students, as we continue our commitment to excellence in academic nursing here at Carolina.

“That is a great help as we hope to attract more of the best and brightest to our profession as either nurses or nurse educators.”

The $5 million gift to UNC-Chapel Hill is the Conways’ first to a North Carolina school, but they have committed more than $250 million to schools of nursing throughout Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, over the last decade.