FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 1, 2008

MUW’s graduate nursing program awarded grant

By Jill D. O’Bryant

COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Mississippi University for Women’s graduate nursing program has been awarded an Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship (AENT) Grant for FY 2009 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the amount of $40,308.

The university was awarded this grant for FY 2008 in the amount of $39,187.

It will cover some college expenses for approximately 20-25 graduate nursing students at MUW who will return to their home communities after
graduation to provide care for underserved areas.

Dr. Sheila Adams, dean of the College of Nursing and Speech-Language
Pathology, noted that the costs to attend a nurse practitioner program are expensive and include $2,000 for books, money for equipment and other expenses.

“The focus of the graduate nursing program is to educate advanced practice nurses in primary care,” Adams said. “The majority of our graduate nursing students come from rural and underserved counties that have limited or no primary healthcare, and most will return to their home communities to practice.”

Dr. Patsy Smyth, director of the Graduate Nursing Program, is the project coordinator and will oversee the grant. She received a doctor of science in nursing degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a master of science in nursing degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor of science in nursing degree from the State University of New York.

Prior to coming to MUW, Dr. Smyth was the director of the Graduate Nursing Program at Western Carolina University.

“We are fortunate to have received this grant and to have someone of Dr. Smyth’s caliber as project coordinator,” Adams said.

“We were gratified to obtain this grant, and the fact that we received an increase when the government has cut back was an added bonus,” Dr. Smyth said. “Providing our students with some help during the program is essential to their success. If we can offer some financial assistance as benefit to defray the cost of nurse practitioner education, we seek to do so.”

MUW’s graduate nursing program, established in 1975, was the first
Master’s Nurse Practitioner Program in Mississippi and the only program until the late 1990s. Graduates of this program have assumed leadership roles in healthcare throughout the state, region and country and have received prestigious awards such as the National Pfizer Advanced Nurse Practitioner Award for exceptional contributions to health care.

The university’s nursing department, which was recognized as the 2007
Mississippi School of Nursing of the Year by the Mississippi Nurses Association and the Mississippi Nurses Foundation, offers three degree
programs: the Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN), the Bachelor of
Science in Nursing (BSN) and the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN).

All three programs have been continually accredited by state, regional and national accrediting bodies. The Associate of Science in Nursing Program is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission. The Baccalaureate Nursing Program and the Graduate Nursing Program are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, which is now the preferred national accrediting body for baccalaureate and higher degree nursing programs.

For more information about MUW’s nursing programs, please contact the
Office of Admissions at (662) 329-7106 or visit the web at www.muw.edu/nursing/.