The Prairie View A & M University College of Nursing has been awarded a $3 million grant by the Houston Endowment to address Texas’ nursing shortage. School officials say the grant, the largest in school’s history, will be used to establish a Nursing PhD program and a research center.
Prairie View currently has over 100 nurses enrolled in its Masters of Science Degree in Nursing program; approximately one-third of those students are likely to continue their studies to the PhD level. Adding the PhD program will allow those students to stay at Prairie View, if they so choose, and will ultimately increase the number of nurse educators in the state of Texas.
Funds from the grant will also be used to establish the Research Center for Virtual Interface for Teaching and Learning, which will study the effects of virtual simulation technology on nursing education. Prairie View’s College of Nursing has used simulation teaching methods to practice critical thinking skills essential to nurses since 2003. Results of the Center’s research will be used to enhance the education of new nurses.
