Our stories

Nicholas Santalucia is following his dream to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner with support from a new grant aimed at providing scholarships for nursing students enrolled in the master’s program.

With some VCU students already trained and others lined up for training, volunteers are ready to address the need for more COVID-19 vaccinators and take on roles that will serve them in their careers.

Mary Appiah emigrated from Ghana to the U.S. and worked for nine years in property management before deciding to pursue an accelerated B.S. nursing degree at VCU. Alexandra Dahl earned dual degrees in psychology and anthropology from VCU, held various jobs, and traveled a bit before following her desire to return to VCU to attend nursing school. Duyen Phan left Vietnam to move to the U.S. and pursue a nursing degree at VCU in hopes of giving back to her community, especially Vietnamese who do not speak English. Appiah, Dahl and Phan are among 11 stellar students, representing diverse backgrounds and aspirations, selected for this year’s cohort of the School of Nursing’s Undergraduate Fellows Program.

Sgt. Henneh Adjei’s call to serve began about 10 years ago. On Dec. 24, 2010, Adjei and a friend were out riding motorbikes in the U.K. when his friend crashed and was fatally injured. It’s a moment Adjei has replayed over and over throughout the years. “I called the ambulance, but they didn’t get there in time,” Adjei said. “Knowing what I know now, I could have saved his life, but I couldn’t. It was something that I dedicated myself to — to be able to know how to save lives.” Now a graduating student in the Accelerated B.S. in Nursing program at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing, Adjei has devoted his life to making a difference in life-or-death situations and is confident his future career in nursing will further this work.

We’re pleased to see our phased-in return to campus is progressing well. Currently, there are small groups of students completing their clinical experiences, faculty continuing their research work and limited staff supporting both of these activities in our building. Our Return to Learn Team continues to meet regularly to plan our return to campus this fall. The team has made every effort to implement social distancing measures and provide a safe environment for everyone. But we can’t do this alone. Each of us has a role and responsibility to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia recently approved modifications to Virginia Commonwealth University’s Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Nursing to make it more streamlined and efficient. The modifications, effective for fall 2020, include a reduction in the number of credit hours for each of the four concentrations, as well as a name change for one concentration.