The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), with support from the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future, is currently offering scholarship funding to underrepresented minority (URM) nursing students who plan to work as nursing faculty after graduation.  

This scholarship program is designed to address the growing shortage of nurse educators while diversifying the nurse faculty population in the United States. In addition to seeking out individuals committed to careers in nursing education, this program also will expand the number of culturally-competent nurse educators available to teach an increasingly diverse student body.

• Be a member of an Underrepresented Minority Group, meaning those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the nursing profession relative to their numbers in the general population. In Nursing, this is typically defined as individuals from the following backgrounds: American Indian, Alaskan Native, Asian American, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. Caucasian/non-Hispanic applicants are not eligible candidates; gender does not apply to minority status for the purposes of this scholarship.
• Be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, refugee or qualified immigrant. Qualified immigrants are defined under federal law: the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-193, and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-208.
• Be a full-time student that is enrolled or already accepted into a doctoral nursing program (i.e. PhD, DNP) or clinically-focused nursing master’s program (APRN Programs). If you are unsure whether your program meets this criteria, contact Marta Okoniewski at mokoniewski@aacn.nche.edu.
• Sign a letter of commitment in which he/she pledges to provide, for each year of scholarship support awarded, a one-year payback as full-time nursing faculty in an accredited registered nursing program in the United States. If payback requirement is not fulfilled, recipient will be expected to reimburse program in full. If student is receiving other forms of assistance that require a post-graduation servicerequirement, she/he cannot satisfy these obligations concurrently; instead they must
  be cumulative.
• Agree to provide 6-month progress updates to AACN until teaching commitment has
  been fulfilled.
• Agree to work with a mentor throughout the life of the scholarship grant.
• Attend AACN’s November 2017 Faculty Development Conference to gain useful skills to
  increase effectiveness as a nursing faculty member and foster leadership
  development.
• Be a member of the Graduate Nursing Student Academy (GNSA). Membership in the
  GNSA is free and provides you with tools and resources helpful to you in your graduate
  education. To apply, click here: https://www.aacn.nche.edu/students/gnsa/join.

If you have further questions please contact Marta Okoniewski at mokoniewski@aacn.nche.edu.