Gift in Support of Student Global Learning Announced at U-M School of Nursing’s 125-Year Symposium

Submitted on Apr 6, 2016

 A wonderful surprise greeted hundreds of global health leaders and nurse scientists convened at University of Michigan to celebrate 125 years of nursing education, impact, and research. On Wednesday, April 6, 2016, a nearly $1 million gift from Robert and Sara Rothschild was announced by Kathleen Potempa, dean of University of Michigan School of Nursing (UMSN). The gift creates the Rothschild Global Health Scholars Program at UMSN, and is part of the $4 billion “Victors for Michigan” campaign at University of Michigan.
U-M Nursing students are appreciative of support from donors like Sara Rothschild.Dean Potempa called the Rothschilds’ gift “transformative,” because of how it will provide “new resources to send our undergraduate and graduate students to work, study, research and learn alongside faculty and partners around the world.”
 
The announcement of the gift for U-M nursing students’ global learning was applauded by many of the same students, faculty, alumni, and symposium guests who are currently focusing on ways to improve population health and policy, via the school’s PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center and dozens of research and learning projects worldwide. UMSN community health nursing partnerships in Botswana have already intersected with work initiated by the Robert and Sara Rothschild Family Foundation to build 20 libraries in Botswana.
 
Sara Rothschild (U-M Nursing class of ’65) credits nursing as motivation for her global work. “It allowed me to develop as a person and taught me how to communicate with other people about their needs and ideas,” she said. “It’s been helpful not just in nursing but in my life. The listening skills we learned in nursing at U-M have been so helpful in being able to work effectively in community development in villages in Botswana.”

 

School of Nursing Symposium on Global Health

An impressive slate of the global health leaders came to Ann Arbor to speak at UMSN's April 5-7, 2016, Symposium on Global Health, including:
  • Vanessa Kerry, MD, CEO and co-founder of Seed Global Health
  • Annette Mwansa Nkowane, MA, BSc, “head nurse” for the World Health Organization
  • Rosemarie Josey, MSN, MPA, RN, nursing director for 15 Commonwealth countries
  • Michelle Dynes, PhD, MPH, MSN, CNM, RN, nurse epidemiologist with the CDC.
Dr. Michelle Dynes presentationThe event includes UMSN’s annual research day, a global expo, and lectures on global topics including promoting workforce development, women’s health and rights, and innovations in global health. Slated for the symposium’s middle day is a gala honoring Dean Kathleen Potempa’s decade of leadership, vision, and commitment to engaged learning, which produced U-M’s first academic facility designed specifically for nursing education, among other innovations.
 

125 Years of University of Michigan

Devries Philanthropy PresentationNursing education at the University of Michigan began in 1891 when a training school for nurses was established in conjunction with the university hospital. In 1941, the school was recognized as an independent teaching unit and was renamed the University of Michigan School of Nursing. Throughout its history, UMSN has evolved to meet changing needs of students, nurse scientists, practitioners, systems, and populations. It stands today as a leader in global health, research, and innovation.