Endowing is the act of giving a permanent source of income to the College of Nursing. Endowed funds, through outright gifts or estate bequests, are wisely and carefully invested by Wayne State University, and the income from the fund is directed toward the purpose selected by the donor. Only the income from the principal is expended in accordance with university policy. The gift continues in perpetuity, and students yet to be born will benefit from this generosity.
Endowment generates a steady stream of income, helping to safeguard against changing economic climates and enabling the college to weather the ebb and flow of state funding, tuition income and federal government grants availability.
The College of Nursing
The College of Nursing is regionally, nationally and internationally recognized for educating graduate and undergraduate students as practitioners and scholars who provide leadership for the profession and discipline of nursing. The college is known for cutting-edge nursing research within its focal areas: self-care and care giving and urban health. Faculty research is supported by the college’s Center for Health Research, the first nursing research facility of its kind. Opportunities for collaborative research abound through the college’s affiliations with the Detroit Medical Center’s extensive network of hospitals, community health care centers and the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
The College of Nursing offers a bachelor of science in nursing and a variety of specialties at the master’s level as well as certificates in nursing education and trans-cultural nursing. It is the only nursing school in southeastern Michigan that offers a doctoral degree to prepare researchers and faculty members. Doctoral students from around the world have gone on to become public health and nursing education leaders in their own countries as well as deans and department heads at leading nursing colleges.
The State of Nursing – An Alarming Future
The United States faces a critical shortage of nurses. In 2000, the nation had a deficit of approximately 110,000 nurses, or 6 percent of the potential workforce. If present conditions persist, by 2015 the shortfall will be 20 percent and will grow to 29 percent by 2020. Experienced nurses, whose average age is now in the mid-40s, will be ready to retire just as the aging baby boom generation begins to place enormous demands on shrinking health care resources, including hospital and community nursing services.
In addition to this challenging scenario, legislators and public policy makers depend on nurses with advanced degrees to manage community health programs. Public health nurse administrators are in short supply, as are those qualified to teach in nursing schools. With 15 percent of Michigan’s nursing workforce eligible to retire before 2010 and the state unemployment rate for licensed nurses only 2.5 percent, qualified clinical, research and teaching staff is difficult to recruit.
The Importance of Endowment Funds
The College of Nursing maintains that an effective way to confront this alarming threat to state and national health care systems is to offer the following:
- High-quality training that will attract increasing numbers of caring and competent individuals to the field of nursing;
- Scholarships, curriculum, programs and facilities to accommodate larger numbers of students and provide the best possible learning experience;
- Research activities that will help lead to solutions for specific health problems in our communities.
Endowment funds create a stable, dependable source of income that provides an extra measure of strength and flexibility, enabling the College of Nursing to offer exceptional teaching and research incentives to highly qualified individuals and to respond to opportunities that generate an atmosphere plentiful in learning experiences and inspiration for all students.
Endowments at the College of Nursing
Endowment funds can support academic chairs, professorships, fellowships, lectureships, scholarships, academic awards, programs and research. A highly individualized process, specific designations for endowment funds are developed between the college’s administration and the donor.
Current endowments include:
- The Katherine E. Faville Professorship in Nursing Research, offering an established nurse scientist the opportunity to manage a dynamic program of research, develop strong interdisciplinary programs of research, and become involved in a vibrant urban community.
- The Elizabeth Schotanus Endowed Professorship in Pediatric Nursing, giving a recognized pediatric nurse-scientist the opportunity to provide leadership in research-based pediatric clinical practice, lead pediatric research investigations, and teach pediatric nursing.
How You Can Participate
Only private philanthropy can create endowment funds. In a very real sense, the college’s academic distinction and its stability are a reflection of the generosity of its dedicated supporters. Named endowments stand in perpetuity as landmarks in building and improving the College of Nursing.
Endowment gifts can be cash, publicly traded stocks or bonds, a bequest in a will or trust, life-income gifts or retirement fund assets.
Carefully planning your investment in the College of Nursing can stretch the value of your gift, enabling you to do much more for the college and its students and faculty than you may think possible.
For more information, contact:
Wayne State University College of Nursing
Development Office
5557 Cass Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48202
Phone (313) 577-6967
Fax (313) 577-4571
www.nursing.wayne.edu
