San Antonio (Jan. 14, 2004) – The St. Luke’s Lutheran Health Ministries Foundation has donated $15,000 to the School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to help endow a new academic professorship aimed at addressing the critical nursing faculty shortage.
Balous Miller, president of the St. Luke’s Lutheran Health Ministries Foundation; the Rev. Steve Rohde, chair of the St. Luke’s grants committee; and the Honorable Barbara Hanson Nellermoe, member of the grants committee, presented a check to Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president of the Health Science Center, and Colleen S. Keller, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of family nursing care in the School of Nursing. Nellermoe is judge for the 45th District Court in Bexar County.
Also participating were San Antonio philanthropists Ronald and Karen Herrmann, founders of the professorship and major donors to the School of Nursing.
“This gift goes a long way to enabling our School of Nursing to be the very best nursing school in the United States,” Dr. Cigarroa said. “The St. Luke’s gift will make it possible for the School of Nursing to recruit and keep a senior-level faculty member whose work will push the field forward.”
The School of Nursing has awarded more than 7,000 degrees and offers courses at the baccalaureate, graduate and doctoral levels. The school is taking steps to address the shortage of registered nurses in South Texas by training nurse educators and managers. Specialized majors include geriatric nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioner and pediatric nurse practitioner. Distance learning programs are enabling residents of Del Rio, Uvalde and other cities to obtain School of Nursing degrees.