VSU Nursing Receives $24,000 Grant

VALDOSTA - Valdosta State University's College of Nursing was recently named the recipient of a $24,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

The grant will be used to aid graduate students enrolled in advanced practice nursing coursework. Recipients of this funding will specialize in advanced nursing of adults, advanced maternal/child nursing, and psychiatric/mental health nursing.

The amount is approximately double what was previously received, due to an increase in the number of students enrolled as well as the addition of the adult health practitioner master's program, which was reinstated in early 2008. Programs like this are designed to meet health care workforce needs of rural South Georgia, and VSU nursing graduates fill a void as nursing educators, clinical leaders and health care administrators in various programs, institutions and agencies across rural and underserved South Georgia and North Florida.

“Our ability to meet the challenges of increasing the nursing workforce in the state of Georgia is contingent on this type of funding,” said Dr. Anita Hufft, dean of the College of Nursing. “This funding directly supports nurses pursuing advanced nursing degrees which will allow them to provide leadership in acute settings; to provide direct primary care services to underserved populations in south Georgia, and to assist as clinical faculty for our undergraduate programs.”

The mission of the faculty of the VSU College of Nursing is to improve the healthcare of the region through the preparation of a professional nursing workforce characterized by enthusiasm, skill, knowledge and honor. The College of Nursing is located in S. Walter Martin Hall at 1300 North Patterson Street in Valdosta, Georgia. For more information, call (229) 333-5959 or visit www.valdosta.edu/nursing .