Dishman School of Nursing receives $90,000 from Baptist Hospitals of SETX Innovation Fund

Lamar University’s Dishman School of Nursing has teamed up with Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas and the establishment of the Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas Innovation Fund. 

The $90,000 fund will provide clinical faculty and experiential learning for LU nursing students.

“As the demand for faculty continues to grow, the Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas Innovation Fund will supplement the costs to hire more clinical faculty,” Chief Nursing Officer Kathy Degenstein-Gartman said.

The increase in clinical faculty is imperative to the success of nursing students.

“When you have limited clinical faculty, the number of students we can take on is

also limited. By providing funding, the students that can come into the program increases,” Degenstein-Gartman said. “The

School of Nursing could only take on 60 or 70 senior level students because of lack of clinical instructors. With this fund, we’re going to be able to increase those numbers and create more nurses of tomorrow.” 

The funding also aims to combat the nursing shortage that faces Southeast Texas.

“Southeast Texas will have the highest shortage of registered nurses in the nation in the coming years,” Chair of the Dishman School of Nursing Dr. Cindy Stinson said. “The fund will provide two clinical faculty to be stationed there at Baptist with the senior level students in the hopes that those students that are working with them will stay in the area after their experience at Baptist.”  

The gift also represents the important relationship between the Dishman School of Nursing and their corporate partners whose collaboration ensures that the experiential learning for LU students is among the best in the nation and provides highly skilled nursing professionals for Southeast Texas.

“We have always had a strong partnership with Lamar University, but this  continues to be an example of how Baptist supports Lamar University and the Dishman School of Nursing,” Degenstein-Gartman said.

To learn more about the Dishman School of Nursing, visit https://www.lamar.edu/arts-sciences/nursing/about/index.html