Couple donates $375,000 grant to nursing
by Brian Johnston
Issue date: 8/28/07
Section: News
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The donation will be used to endow renewable scholarships for students who have completed at least two semesters in the undergraduate nursing program and have a 3.5 or above cumulative grade point average. Recipients will receive $3,125 each semester until they finish the five semester nursing program.
"[The endowment] is a milestone for the School of Nursing," professor and chair of the School of Nursing Mary Bliesmer said. "No student in our program has had a scholarship like this in the past."
The first scholarship will be awarded in January 2008, and recipients will be able to participate in faculty research and provide peer mentoring, Bliesmer said.
Mr. Meredith, who co-founded Mankato's Orthopaedic and Fracture Clinic in 1957, said he and his wife donated the money to help address an increasing shortage of qualified nurses in the U.S.
"I endowed this scholarship to make it easier for top students at MSU to access the School of Nursing," Mr. Meredith said. "[The U.S.] is desperately short of trained nursing personnel and we have a major problem in this regard."
According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, the national nursing shortage would triple to more than one million nurses by the year 2020 without increased education funding and scholarships.
Mr. Meredith said he noticed a reduction in the number of qualified nurses in hospitals before he retired from orthopedic surgery 15 years ago. He also said nurses are taking on more responsibilities and working longer shifts, making them even more important to patient care.
"The Meredith Nursing Scholars endowment will help to correct a critical shortage of baccalaureate trained nurses, and will allow dedicated students to pursue their studies without the distractions of outside jobs," MSU President Richard Davenport said in a press release.
The Meredith's gift to the School of Nursing brings their total amount donated to MSU to over $1 million. In 2005 the Merediths gave MSU its largest single scholarship gift of more than $700,000 to endow the Meredith Scholars Program for promising science and mathematics students.
"Dr. and Mrs. Meredith continue to set the standard for scholarship giving at [MSU]," Davenport said. "The Meredith's 2005 gift to the College of Science, Engineering and Technology is benefiting students for generations to come, and their School of Nursing endowment will do the same."
Mr. Meredith served as one of MSU's first athletic team physicians and helped MSU create what is now the oldest, continually accredited athletic training program in the U.S.
Brian Johnston is a Reporter staff writer
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