Missouri City resident Angela Joy Nash, M.S.N., R.N., has been designated as one of two George Foundation Scholars at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing.
Nash also is one of 10 doctoral students selected for “The Patricia L. Starck Accelerated Ph.D. Scholars Program,” which provides fully funded stipends to allow selected doctoral candidates to earn their Ph.D. in Nursing within three years rather than the traditional five to seven years. Each of the 10 scholars carries the title of an organization that will make a gift of at least $60,000 per year for the three years to the program as part of a successful $2-million fundraising initiative.
Each student has agreed to teach for at least three years at the UTHealth School of Nursing or elsewhere in the Texas Gulf Coast region after graduation.
“Not only is this program very meaningful for the future health care of residents of Fort Bend County and the Houston area, I anticipate this program becoming highly successful and a national model for addressing the nursing faculty shortage,” said Dee Koch, grant officer of The George Foundation, which provided a $500,000 challenge grant that spurred the fundraising effort to completion last July.
Nash, a pediatric nurse practitioner, earned both her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in nursing from The University of Texas at Austin.
“I would really like to use my experiences and gifts to influence the next generation of nurse providers,” said Nash, who has been an instructor at Baylor College of Medicine in academic general pediatrics. “I hope to gain the knowledge and skills required to be a nursing faculty member who can help make evidence-based practice more of a reality.”
The Accelerated Ph.D. program was conceived as a tribute to the 25-year tenure of Patricia L. Starck, D.S.N., R.N., as dean of the nursing school.
The UTHealth School of Nursing graduates an average of 166 new nurses and 130 nurses with graduate degrees each year. Total enrollment for fall 2010 is 891 students at all levels. More than 7,835 nurses have graduated from the school since 1972.
Great program at UTHealth! What a wonderful opportunity.