Baylor Nursing School Awarded Healthy Sum For Student Scholarships

January 11, 2011
News Photo 5032

Nursing faculty member Lyn Pesta (far right) leads a Professional Nurse Practice class at Baylor's Louise Herrington School of Nursing.

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Baylor University's Louise Herrington School of Nursing has been selected among the nation's top nursing schools to receive coveted scholarship funds for undergraduate nursing students. The grant, which comes from the Helene Fuld Health Trust, HSBC Bank USA, N.A., Trustee, will disburse $600,000 over three years to establish and maintain an endowed scholarship fund for current and future students enrolled in Baylor's undergraduate nursing program.

"This is extraordinary news," said Baylor President Ken Starr. "Many students who come to Baylor do so to fulfill a calling, and certainly our nursing students are among those answering a great and humble call to serve others in a practical, yet meaningful way."

"In light of these trying economic times, it is essential that we offer a reprieve for deserving students who seek the quality education and preparation, and the caring environment, the nursing school provides," Starr said. "This gift wonderfully embodies the university's utmost priority of expanding endowed scholarship funds, and we are grateful."

The grant is one of the nursing school's largest endowed scholarship gifts on record and arrives in timely fashion as Baylor recently announced The President's Scholarship Initiative, a three-year priority which aims to raise $100 million in endowed scholarship funds for Baylor students.

"We are so delighted to receive this gift from the Helene Fuld Health Trust," said Dr. Judy Lott, dean of Baylor's Louise Herrington School of Nursing. "These scholarships will help the next generation of nursing students receive an education that prepares them to provide outstanding nursing care to a world that desperately needs it."

The nursing school was approached by the Helene Fuld Health Trust and asked to submit an application because of the program's excellent reputation, recently strengthened by recognition including:


    • receiving full accreditation with no recommendations by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
    • acknowledgement by the Texas Board of Nursing as one of the few programs to achieve an at least an 85 percent graduation rate and an 85 percent licensure pass rate in 2009
    • a request from the Board for a description of the school's best practices to share with other nursing programs.

Baylor's Louise Herrington School of Nursing also earned praise from the Board for its 96.14 percent licensure pass rate in 2009 -- an impressive score, ranking well above the 89.49 percent national average for baccalaureate degree programs in that year.

"Our students come to the Louise Herrington School of Nursing to learn, to lead and to serve," Lott said. "This gift from the Helene Fuld Health Trust will enable this to happen."

The Helene Fuld Health Trust

The Helene Fuld Health Trust is the nation's largest private funder devoted exclusively to nursing students and nursing education. The trust was originally established as a foundation in 1935 by Dr. Leonhard Felix Fuld, a New York City physician and civil servant, with his sister, Florentine. They named the foundation in honor of their late mother, Helene Shwab Fuld, to honor her inspiring passion and interest in health issues. In 1961, Dr. Fuld refined the foundation's purpose to focus more narrowly on "the improvement of the health and welfare of student nurses."

For more information about Baylor's Louise Herrington School of Nursing and opportunities to support the next generation of nursing students, please contact Janis Kovar at (214) 808-9802 or Janis_Kovar@baylor.edu.

Media contact: Lori Fogleman, director of media communications, (254) 710-6275