Pittsburgh Foundation Awards Scholarships to Seven Nursing Students

Seven undergraduate nursing students have received scholarship grants from The Pittsburgh Foundation.

The scholarships were awarded through two separate endowments: The William Henry Fitch Memorial Trust Fund and the Sheena M. Taylor Memorial Scholarship Fund. Five students received their scholarships from the Fitch Fund, which was created to benefit members of minority communities.

Kathy Mayle, assistant professor and director of the School of Nursing’s Center for Health Care Diversity, is particularly interested in the issue of minority recruitment and retention in the nursing profession. In order to help locate students with the greatest need for the nursing scholarships, she was instrumental in forming a committee made up of faculty members from regional nursing schools to help review applications for the scholarships administered by The Pittsburgh Foundation.

“[The scholarship committee] reviews all of the applications, and grants are awarded based solely on need, so it’s definitely a level playing field,” Mayle said. “I am delighted that these scholarships continue to go to students who really need them, including our own students here at Duquesne.”

The Pittsburgh Foundation, one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the nation, oversees more than 200 scholarships that have been created by individuals, families, businesses and other organizations.