CSU secures $12M gift for nursing program

FORT COLLINS — Colorado State University has secured a $12 million gift from a private family foundation to benefit the university’s new 3+2 Dual Degree Nursing Program.

Funds from the anonymous donor will be used to construct a facility that will be located on the fourth floor of the CSU Health Network and Medical Center. The program represents a collaboration between CSU Fort Collins and CSU Pueblo’s School of Nursing to educate future nurses in Fort Collins.

Beginning this fall, it will offer students an accelerated five-year pathway to earn a non-nursing bachelor’s degree, plus a master’s degree in nursing.  

The funds join prior donations from the H.A. & Mary K. Chapman Foundation, UCHealth, and $1.5 million in directed federal spending.

CSU students also agreed to help complete programmatic fundraising for the Fort Collins nursing program with a $100,000 allocation of student fees through the University Facility Fee Advisory Board in collaboration with ASCSU.  

“We are incredibly grateful to our philanthropic, healthcare and government partners, and our students for their commitment to training the next generation of nursing professionals through this innovative dual degree program,” CSU Provost and Executive Vice President Lise Youngblade said in a written statement. “Their generous investments underscore the critical need to address the nationwide nursing shortage and demonstrate confidence in CSU to lead this effort. This support will pay dividends in community health and excellent nursing education for generations to come.”

CSU said the private family foundation prefers not to be identified.

The program has attracted more than 100 incoming undergraduate students across pre-nursing concentrations in Health and Exercise Science, Human Development and Family Studies, and Nutrition Science for the fall semester. 

With the recent donation, CSU completed the academic program’s fundraising goal of $17.5 million, but funding for student scholarships, including the Nurturing Future Nurses Scholarship, is still needed.

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