Financier's $2.5M foundation gift to fund nursing scholarships at Duquesne

The news came during National Nurses Week, and it was stunning.

Although six- and seven-figure gifts to colleges are not unheard of, many of them come with strings. Often money is to be allocated for endowed professorships, labs or buildings.

The $2.5 million award Duquesne University’s School of Nursing has received from the Bedford Falls Foundation is a stark variation on the theme. At the foundation’s request, the award will be earmarked for nursing scholarships for 160 students over the next five years.

“This is something special. Nursing does not get the same recognition or donations as programs for physicians or lawyers,” said Mary Ellen Glasgow, dean of the Duquesne School of Nursing.

The scholarships — $15,000 each — will be directed to students in the accelerated second career degree program beginning this fall.

Washington, D.C. financier Bill Conway and his wife, Joanne, launched the foundation named for the mythical town in the Jimmy Stewart classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life” in 2012 with the goal of giving away $1 billion. At the time, Conway, founder of the Carlyle Group, told the Washington Post he and his wife decided to focus on nursing scholarships as a way to help low-income individuals get a leg up in a career field where jobs are abundant.

Since that time the foundation has given away millions in scholarship money to nursing programs at a number of colleges including the University of Maryland, Villanova, Johns Hopkins, the University of Virginia and Catholic University, among others.

Glasgow was thrilled to learn that the foundation was adding Duquesne to its list of beneficiaries. The news came last month during National Nurses Week.

The notification was the culmination of a process that began when she received an email from the foundation asking her to fill out a survey. That was followed by a Zoom meeting, a request for a proposal and finally a site visit.

The award comes as hospitals and nursing homes are struggling to hire nurses. A combination of an aging workforce and early retirements and career changes spurred by the pandemic has exacerbated an existing shortage of registered nurses.

Hospitals strapped for help have turned to a number of strategies to fill vital positions including paying a premium to traveling nurses, seeking international nurses, offering recruitment and retention bonuses and loan forgiveness.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers acknowledged the crisis, providing $225 million to recruit and retain nurses and setting aside $15 million that nurses practicing here could tap for up to $7,500 in student debt forgiveness. State officials said the fund was tapped out almost as soon as it opened.

Duquesne’s second career program — one of several at local colleges — can prepare committed students to sit for the nursing licensing exam in 12 to 16 months. It enrolls about 80 students a year in the program that provides those who already have a four-year degree an opportunity to earn a second degree in nursing.

Glasgow said graduates in the second career program have fared well on the licensing board exams.

And while it’s one way to get nurses on the floor and in the workforce relatively quickly, the program carries a $59,000 price tag. Moreover, the intense demands of the program make part-time work impossible, Glasgow said.

She said Duquesne, which awards $10,000 in student aid to those in the program, plans to distribute the Bedford Falls grant to 32 needy students from a $500,000 annual grant over each of the next five years. Glasgow said $20,000 will be set aside each year for emergency costs and advising.

“We’ve already put out the word to the incoming class and asked them to fill out a form to apply. These scholarships are going to make a difference,” Glasgow said.