News Releases
Two University of Maryland School of Nursing Assistant Professors Awarded New Nurse Faculty Fellowships
October 20, 2016
Awards given to new faculty members to offset educational and professional development costs.
Baltimore, Md. – Two University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) faculty members have received New Nurse Faculty Fellowship Awards, grants funded through the Nurse Support Program II (NSP II) for FY ’17-’19. Assistant Professors Kathleen McElroy, PhD, MS ’10, BSN ’97, and Ronald Piscotty, PhD, RN-BC, both received awards.
Maryland institutions with nursing degree programs are eligible to nominate newly hired, full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty members and clinical-track faculty for the fellowship. The maximum amount of the three-year fellowship is $20,000. Recipients receive $10,000 during year one, and then $5,000 annually for the remaining two years. Funds can be used to supplement a fellow’s salary, to pay for graduate education expenses, and to cover professional development and associated dues.
NSP II is a statewide initiative designed to address the nurse shortage in Maryland by increasing the number of nurses prepared to serve as nursing faculty. Since 2013, UMSON has increased enrollment by 26 percent in its traditional BSN and RN-to-BSN programs in response to the Institute of Medicine’s report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which calls for increasing the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80 percent by 2020. Currently, approximately 51 percent of nurses are educated at the baccalaureate level.
McElroy teaches required didactic and clinical community health courses to BSN and RN-to-BSN students. Her research and clinical practice focuses on pregnant/postpartum women and infants impacted by clinical and environmental factors. Piscotty, whose area of expertise is information systems and technology and its impact on clinical practice, teaches core courses to BSN and RN-to-BSN students. In spring 2016, Piscotty, who also teaches informatics courses at the graduate level, taught approximately 200 undergraduate students.
“We are truly grateful for the generous support provided to our faculty members through the Nurse Support Program II,” said UMSON Dean Jane M. Kirschling, PhD, RN, FAAN. “This initiative is instrumental in helping us recruit and retain highly talented and dedicated individuals, who in turn ensure that we are educating a nursing workforce fully prepared to meet the increasingly complex health care needs of Maryland’s residents now and in the future. Drs. McElroy and Piscotty are already making significant contributions to the School of Nursing through their teaching and research, and we congratulate them on their selection as fellows.”
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The University of Maryland School of Nursing, founded in 1889, is one of the oldest and largest nursing schools in the nation. Enrolling more than 1,700 students in its baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs, the School develops leaders who shape the profession of nursing and impact the health care environment.