A $600,000 grant from the Helene Fuld Health Trust to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s College of Nursing will significantly increase scholarships available to graduate students in nursing, ensuring an affordable education and helping grow enrollment to address an anticipated nursing shortage in Wisconsin.
Based in New York City, the Helene Fuld Health Trust is the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to helping nursing students and enhancing nursing education.
“We are grateful for this outstanding level of scholarship support from the Helene Fuld Health Trust,” said Sally Lundeen, dean of the College of Nursing. “We are also honored to join the ranks of prestigious past grantees including Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Rush University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University.”
The Fuld grant follows a $1 million gift from the James and Yvonne Ziemer Family Foundation, underscoring the critical impact of UWM’s College of Nursing, where the next generation of nurses is being prepared for the health care workforce in the Milwaukee area and throughout the state.
UWM’s College of Nursing enrolls 1,479 undergraduate and graduate students and is consistently ranked in the top 10 percent of nursing programs nationally. In May, the College of Nursing graduated 165 students, with most of them going to work in southeastern Wisconsin at partner institutions including Aurora Health Care, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Froedtert, Wheaton Franciscan and Columbia St. Mary hospital systems and scores of community-based organizations. These graduates will join the nearly 7,000 College of Nursing alumni working in Wisconsin and across the globe.
Jessie Frohwirth, a Milwaukee resident and Bradley Tech High School alumna, will graduate next year from UWM with a degree in nursing.
“If it wasn’t for UWM, the College of Nursing, and the scholarships that have supported my education, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Frohwirth said. “I look forward to graduating next year, applying all that I’ve learned in caring for others, and joining the workforce at a Milwaukee hospital.”
About UWM
As Wisconsin’s only public urban research university, UWM has established an international reputation for excellence in research, community engagement, teaching and entrepreneurism. UWM educates more than 28,000 students on an operating budget of $546 million, an amount that does not include federal financial aid passed through to students. The Princeton Review named UWM a “2015 Best in the Midwest” university based on overall academic excellence and student reviews. An engine for innovation in southeastern Wisconsin, UWM’s economic impact is more than $1.5 billion per year in Wisconsin alone.
