The University of Washington, Bothell nursing program will receive $330,000 as part of the Fiscal Year 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill to fund year two of its “An Initiative to Train Nursing Faculty in Partnership with a Consortium of Colleges.” U.S. Senator Patty Murray and Representative Jay Inslee led the efforts to pass this legislation with the continued support of the entire Washington delegation.
Nursing program Director Mary Baroni said, “We are delighted to hear that our Nursing Consortium is funded for a second year. During the first year, we were able to expand our MN student enrollment, allocate $140,000 in scholarship support and increase much-needed nursing faculty in the community colleges.
“On March 6, we hosted our first Faculty-to-Faculty Consortium meeting with over 100 participants representing faculty from each of our 14 partner schools. Faculty convened for a day to consider strategies for addressing the nursing faculty shortage in our region, and to discuss the needs, challenges and opportunities we have as current faculty to recruit, mentor and retain our much-needed next generation of nursing faculty.”
The consortium includes the following institutions, the majority of which currently share articulation agreements with the UW-Bothell nursing program:
Bellevue Community College, Bellingham Technical College, Everett Community College, Highline Community College, Lake Washington Technical College, North Seattle Community College, Peninsula College, Renton Technical College, Seattle Central Community College, Shoreline Community College, Skagit Valley College (Mount Vernon and Whidbey Island campuses), South Seattle Community College and Whatcom Community College.
The expanded partnerships strengthen UW-Bothell’s nursing education offerings to best meet the needs and opportunities identified by consortium faculty, enabling the program to continue to educate highly qualified nursing educators who will serve to prepare the region’s next generation of nurses and health care professionals.
