The grant funding is designed to help the state’s colleges and universities improve their nursing programs to help alleviate the state’s shortage of qualified nurses.
West Virginia Wesleyan College has received a $1.5 million grant from West Virginia’s Nursing Workforce Expansion Program, a project established to encourage nursing program enrollment that will lead to a strengthened nursing workforce in the state. The college will utilize the funding to make improvements to its own nursing program, including the launch of a new nursing pathway that will improve access to nursing education.
According to an article on West Virginia Wesleyan College’s website, Dr. Kimberly White, director of the School of Nursing, was quoted as saying of the grant award, “WVWC School of Nursing is honored to be the recipient of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission’s Nursing Expansion Grant for the third year in a row. This year we continue to focus on recruitment and retention of students and providing as much support and resources to ensure academic success. We are also excited to start accepting new students into our new LPN to BSN hybrid/weekend pathway program for Fall 2025 and to revitalize the former Alderson Broaddus University campus by returning nursing students back to Battler’s Knob.”
West Virginia’s Nursing Workforce Expansion Program grants are funded by the West Virginia Legislature and are administered by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and Community and Technical College System. Each college or university that receives funding each year builds upon the previous year's improvements to continue enhancing nursing education and workforce development. Since the program launched, it has helped to bolster nursing program enrollments by nearly 25%.
For more information about West Virginia Wesleyan College, visit the school’s website.