Connell School of Nursing receives $1.8 million grant
The Connell School of Nursing has been awarded a $1.8 million grant from the Bedford Falls Foundation to support its undergraduate nursing program. The award will provide funding for scholarships, a new learning specialist to oversee student success programming, and an emergency fund for students.
The Bedford Falls Foundation, a private foundation started by Carlyle Group co-founder and co-chairman William “Bill” E. Conway Jr. and his late wife, Joanne, focuses its philanthropy on nursing education, among other endeavors.
Connell School Dean Katherine Gregory (Lee Pellegrini)
The grant will establish the Joanne and William Conway Nursing Scholarship, which will provide financial support to undergraduate nursing students with demonstrated financial need. Over the course of the five-year grant, Conway Scholarships totaling $1.25 million are expected to be awarded to an estimated 47 BC nursing students.
The Bedford Falls Foundation grant will also support a new, full-time learning specialist at the Connell School who will oversee a broad range of activities aimed at improving undergraduate students’ academic and learning outcomes. This person will work closely with CSON’s Student Services team and develop new programming and resources to ensure students are supported in all aspects of their nursing education.
In addition, the grant will establish the Joanne Barkett Conway Student Success Fund, an emergency fund that will support a range of emerging student needs as determined by Connell School Dean Katherine Gregory.
“We are deeply grateful to Bill Conway and the Bedford Falls Foundation for their transformational gift,” said Gregory. “Through their generosity, the Connell School can better support and ease the financial burden of the next generation of exceptional nurses—nurses whose talents and skills will improve health and the common good.”
“Our nation needs more nurses, but the cost of a nursing education can make it seem like an unattainable dream to some,” said Conway. “I feel blessed to be able to partner with Boston College to reduce the financial burden of a nursing education, so that students can get a high quality nursing education, achieve their dreams, and help reduce the nursing shortage.”
Established in 1947, the William F. Connell School of Nursing at Boston College prepares compassionate, professionally competent nurses whose practice and scholarship are scientifically based and grounded in humanizing the experience of health and illness. As part of a Jesuit, Catholic institution of higher education, the Connell School is dedicated to formation of the whole person with a focus on social justice and service to others. It partners with Boston’s world-class health care institutions and offers programs at the baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels, as well as continuing education programs. Connell School faculty members—a community of educators, researchers, clinicians, and innovators—are widely published and recognized as leaders in their field. Its undergraduate nursing program is ranked 9th nationally in the latest U.S. News & World Report survey.