West Liberty University recently was gifted with a $25,000 donation that will result in a newly-funded nursing scholarship to provide students interested in nursing careers with financial assistance in earning their degree.
“I am so grateful to the Ohio Valley General Hospital (OVGH) School of Nursing alumni association for endowing this new and much needed scholarship. Nurses are needed now more than ever,” said Angela Zambito Hill, president of the WLU Foundation.
Retired nurse April Edwards of Shadyside, Ohio was the initial contact from the OVGH Alumni Association who worked with the WLU Foundation for several years to set the scholarship up and provide the initial endowment check. COVID-19 held it up last summer but it is now a reality.
“We’re proud to provide the scholarship money for students who need financial assistance and proud to be associated with WLU,” said Ruth Murphy of Barnesville, Ohio, who serves as president of the OVGH alumni association.
The intention is to help nontraditional nursing students earn their degree, noted Murphy.
“We are particularly pleased to accept this scholarship based on the historic relationship between WLU’s nursing program, and the OVGH School of Nursing which was very helpful when we began our program,” said Dr. Rose Kutlenios, who is chair of the Department of Nursing.
The OVGH alumni group was founded in the 1980s and remains active, even though the Ohio Valley General Hospital School of Nursing was closed in 1988, according to records kept by the Ohio County Public Library archives.
“When our School of Nursing closed, the student nurses transferred to West Liberty to complete their degrees,” said Murphy.
Initially known as the City Hospital Training School for Nurses, it opened in conjunction with Wheeling’s City Hospital in 1892 and was the first nursing school in West Virginia. Even now, the alumni association meets five times a year and sends out newsletters to about 500 members.
WLU’s Nursing Program consistently ranks as one of the best in the region and was recently awarded the maximum length of accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
Students can choose from both the traditional nursing baccalaureate program and the BA-BS to BSN or second-degree program.
For more information on WLU’s Nursing Program, please visit the website: westliberty.edu/nursing or call 304.336.8108.
The WLU Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization established in 1964. Its mission is to support, strengthen and sustain WLU through raising, investment and stewardship of private funds. For more information, please call 304-336-5635 or visit wlufoundation.org.
