FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Eleanor Mann Nursing Students Win Bilingual Nursing Scholarships
Abel Gutierrez
Zohara Moralli
Two students in the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing at the University of Arkansas were awarded scholarships recently from the Bilingual Nursing Scholarship Initiative, a pilot project of the Northwest Arkansas Nursing Education Consortium. The consortium is funded by grants from the Care Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.
The scholarship recipients, Abel Gutierrez and Zohara Moralli, are juniors in the nursing school. Both speak Spanish.
Gutierrez is considering work as a nurse practitioner or a nurse anesthetist after graduation. Moralli is interested in working in the field of emergency care or as a nurse anesthetist.
"I am delighted that these students received this award to help defray the nursing program costs," said Nan Smith-Blair, interim director of the nursing school. "Northwest Arkansas desperately needs bilingual nurses to deliver care to an important segment of our community."
The Bilingual Nursing Scholarship Initiative was created in an effort to meet the increasing health-care needs of the diverse population of northwest Arkansas. Recipients must be proficient in English and either Spanish, Marshallese or Vietnamese. Criteria also include academic performance, and the applicants are required to have a letter of recommendation from the director of the nursing school.