Our stories

A new $3 million gift, combined with a $2.5 million commitment from last year, will allow the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing to nearly double the number of need-based scholarships for undergraduate students. Philanthropists William E. Conway Jr., co-founder and co-executive chairman of The Carlyle Group, and his wife, Joanne, provided both gifts to support the school’s efforts to address the nursing workforce shortage. “[We] decided to support VCU School of Nursing because we were seeking to provide nursing scholarships to qualified students in our area,” William Conway said. “VCU has an excellent record [in educating nurses] and was highly recommended by other nursing leaders. We decided to double the amount of our scholarships because we are impressed with VCU’s commitment to educating more students to become nurses.”

The VCU School of Nursing will begin offering an accelerated course of study to registered nursing students at John Tyler Community College in fall 2020, making this VCU’s third community college partnership for co-enrollment. Applications open May 1 for fall 2020.

Twenty members of Nursing Students Without Borders at VCU and two VCU School of Nursing faculty members traveled on a community service trip earlier this month to provide health outreach to villagers in the Highlands Region of Guatemala. Led by Leigh Ann Breckenridge, DNP, FNP- BC, MSN, RN, clinical assistant professor, and Michelle Legg, M.S.N., RN, CCRN-K, clinical instructor, the students provided education on hypertension and diabetes for women and midwives. They also built stoves for Mayan families to help reduce the risk of additional health issues caused by cooking over open fires.

VCU School of Nursing recognized 134 new graduates at the Fall 2019 Recognition Ceremony held Dec. 13 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. The ceremony also featured the presentation of awards.

You could say that VCU School of Nursing clinical assistant professor and alumna Tracye Proffitt (B.S.’02/N, M.S.’06/N) has come full circle in her new job as coordinator of the RN to B.S. program. A graduate of Rappahannock Community College who began her career as a registered nurse, she’s the perfect example of how the RN to B.S. program works … and how it works even better now for students at Rappahannock and Southside Virginia Community Colleges because of a recent concurrent enrollment agreement that paves a faster, more efficient path to the bachelor’s degree.

The road to recovery after escaping from Vietnam during her childhood had an unexpected bright side for Ai Garner. The Saigon, Vietnam native ended up in the nursing field after experiencing life on the run from Viet Cong soldiers, spending time in a refugee camp and later immigrating to America with her mother in search of a better life. Her life’s journey fueled her current path toward becoming a psychiatric and mental health nursing practitioner.