Saint Louis University’s Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing to Receive Nearly $100K For Nursing Education

SLU Among 20 Colleges and Universities Awarded $5M in Grants from the Missouri State Board of Nursing to Enhance Nursing Education Statewide

St. Louis – Saint Louis University is one of 20 colleges and universities that will receive a portion of $5 million in grant funding to enhance nursing education programs statewide. SLU will use grant funds totaling $99,704 to invest in technology for undergraduate and graduate programs in the Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing.

The competitive grants were part of a special appropriation to the Missouri State Board of Nursing, which was recommended and approved by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson. The nursing programs awarded funds will provide scholarships and tuition assistance for nursing faculty, clinical simulation equipment and staffing, faculty pay increases, nursing faculty professional development, and graduate nursing program development to educate more nursing faculty. 

Cynthia Rubbelke, associate professor of nursing at SLU, serves as the Valentine School of Nursing’s e-technology coordinator. Rubbelke and Margaret Bultas, Ph.D., professor of nursing, were instrumental in securing funding for the pilot project. 

“The project's goal is to augment active learning strategies and to improve opportunities for students and practicing nurses through our graduate and continuing education programs to fully engage in meaningful classroom activities,” Rubbelke said.

Technology enhancements include equipping classrooms with wireless projection devices and providing faculty with iPads. Rubbelke provides support and training for faculty to strengthen their teaching in the classroom and clinical settings. 

“Faculty can use them to annotate, visually link and illustrate concepts, and improve visualization and understanding of content. This is especially beneficial as nurse educators renew their focus on competency-based education and development of practice-ready nurses,” Bultas said. 

The new technological advances in the classroom have been supported by Timothy Murphy, assistant vice president of information technology services, and his team. 

In 2022, SLU was awarded a $298,137 grant to combat the nursing faculty shortage as a part of Governor Parson’s first special appropriation by the Missouri General Assembly to combat the nursing faculty shortage.