Thirty Barry University nursing students will each get a $20,000 scholarship  and attend classes at Baptist Hospital to complete their bachelor’s degree in nursing,  thanks to a new partnership between Barry University and Baptist Health South Florida.

“We are thrilled to have a community partner of Baptist Health’s stature,” said Pegge L. Bell, Ph.D., dean of Barry University’s School of Nursing.  “They are committed to education and their highly qualified nursing staff and educators will be a tremendous asset to our educational programs as classroom and clinical instructors. I am very excited that we have a partner willing to help us and take additional students, while adding their Baptist-quality touch to the program”

“Nurse recruitment and retention strategies are a number one priority and Baptist Health leads the way in investing in the future nursing workforce,” said Deborah Mulvihill, R.N., corporate vice president and chief nursing officer for Baptist Health. “By partnering with Barry University’s highly regarded nursing program, we are proactively addressing the current and looming nursing shortages that are projected for our area as well as the entire state of Florida.”

The first group of student nurses, entering their third year in the program, will begin classes in January at Baptist Hospital.  The students will complete the final two years of their program in an accelerated 18 months. In return for the scholarship from Baptist Health, the students agree to work at a Baptist Health hospital or outpatient center for three years after graduation.  Hospitals affiliated with Baptist Health are Baptist, Baptist Children’s, South Miami, Doctors, Homestead and Mariners Hospitals.

Nursing faculty will come from both Barry University and Baptist Health.

Baptist Health is South Florida’s largest faith-based, not-for-profit healthcare organization. Two of its hospitals – Baptist and South Miami – are recognized as “Magnet Hospitals” for nursing excellence by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
 
For information about the Baptist Health Nurse Scholars Program and the partnership with Barry University, call 786-596-4194.

Barry University, the state’s fourth-largest private institution of higher education, offers bachelor’s, master’s, law and seven doctoral degree programs to more than 8,000 students at its main campus in Miami Shores  and sites throughout the state, including Avon Park, Boynton Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Fort Walton Beach, Kendall, Key West, Melbourne, Orlando, Palm Beach Gardens, Port St. Lucie, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee and Winter Park.

Founded in 1940, the university is sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan, and is governed by an independent, self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. Barry University’s academic schools include Adult and Continuing Education, Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Human Performance and Leisure Sciences, Law, Natural and Health Sciences, Nursing, Graduate Medical Sciences, Podiatric Medicine and Social Work. For more information, call 305- 899-3100 or visit www.barry.edu