The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing is partnering with UAB Medicine, including UAB St. Vincent’s, to implement the Reach for the Stars Nursing Scholarship Program, a national initiative designed to help meet the demand for nurses by educating new RNs throughout the United States. The scholarships support hospital employees, including those working in part-time and flexible roles, who are interested in pursuing an associate or bachelor’s degree in nursing.
Since 2016, the Reach for the Stars Nursing Scholarship Program has partnered with public hospital systems and awarded hundreds of scholarships to educate RNs across the country. Previous scholarship recipients have worked in nursing support, radiology, surgery, transportation, translation, reception and hospitality.
“This scholarship program is going to provide an avenue for all members of our workforce who want to become a nurse. These efforts are another example of the power of our nursing partnership. We find ways to help grow the number of nurses and transition them to practice across our community and beyond,” said UAB Health System Chief Nursing Executive, UABSON Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of Nursing Clinical Practice and Partnerships Terri Poe, DNP, RN, NE-BC (BSN 1986, DNP 2013).
The UAB Nursing Partnership is a formal, strategic alignment among the UAB School of Nursing and UAB Medicine and combines resources to accelerate their respective missions while benefiting students, faculty, patients and the health care system through research, education and practice initiatives. In 2018, it received the 2018 American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s New Era for Academic Nursing Award, its highest academic/practice partnership award.
“We are so very thankful for the generous support of the donors who wanted to make an impact and change lives in this way,” said Dean and Fay B. Ireland Endowed Chair in Nursing Maria R. Shirey, PhD, MBA, MS, RN, NEA-BC, ANEF, FACHE, FNAP, FAAN. “Their gift creates a ripple effect on the scholarship recipients’ families as well as through the lives these new nurses will touch and the patients and communities they will serve.”
The Reach for the Stars Nursing scholarships are funded by anonymous donors and are awarded to eligible employees based on criteria set forth by Reach for the Stars and UAB Medicine. The scholarships cover a broad range of expenses, including tuition and fees, required educational materials, uniforms and other educational expenses, and may follow students from an associate degree in nursing program to the completion of their Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the UAB School of Nursing.