Saint Elizabeth gets $200K to boost Latino health care students at Morris university
With a new academic year just underway, Saint Elizabeth University announced this week that it has received a two-year, $200,000 grant to help economically disadvantaged Latino students pursue careers in health care.
The Morris Township-based university was awarded the grant through Bank of America’s Progresando Initiative for Hispanic and Latino students in the health care field. Saint Elizabeth is one of just 12 Hispanic Serving higher-education institutions nationwide participating in the program, the school said in a statement Monday.
"It is critically important that we enhance equity and inclusion in health care to improve patient access and outcomes in Hispanic communities,” added Anne Clark Bartlett, the university's provost and vice president for the Division of Academic Affairs and Student Life.
The grant will fund a bilingual health care academic coach and a career advisor to Progresando Scholars, in addition to supplemental instruction and tutoring in critical prerequisite classes, the university said. The grant will also provide emergency funds to scholars facing food and housing insecurity, caregiving responsibilities or other needs.
The money will support students in six healthcare-related degree programs in "high-paying careers in fields with great market demand," administrators said. That includes postgraduate master's programs for nursing, physician assistants, counseling and school counseling psychology, applied behavioral analysis and a nutrition and dietetic internship, as well as a Ph.D. program in counseling psychology.
The applied behavioral analysis and nutrition programs are fully available online.
Over the next two years, the school projects an annual enrollment of 100 graduate students through the Progresando Initiative, Bartlett said.
Bank of America said Progresando aims to "achieve upward economic mobility through careers in health care, while also helping to increase representation and address the shortage of culturally sensitive, Spanish-speaking providers."
The grant program is the latest effort under Gary Crosby, the university's first male and Black president, to help connect more low-income students with higher education.
Crosby, who took office in July 2021, began by launching a "Guaranteed Education" program that partners with the city of Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery and the Brick City Peace Collective. Funded in part by a $1 million grant from the city, which is about 20 miles to the east, the program covers all expenses for 40 undergraduates from Newark, including tuition, books and room and board.
“Our goal is to not only provide these 40 students with engaging educational programs but to inspire them to effect positive change in their community,” Crosby said earlier this year. Founded as an all-girls college in 1899 by the Sisters of Charity, Saint Elizabeth, went co-ed in 2016 and achieved university status in 2020.
As part of the Bank of America initiative, education firm EAB will provide research, technology, marketing, and advisory services to the participating institutions. Over the next two years, Progresando is projected to help more than 6,200 Hispanic-Latino students commit to healthcare-related programs around the country, doubling the current student rate, according to the Initiative.
The program's goals include an 80% student retention rate, 100 new Hispanic licensed health professionals in New Jersey per year and 100 new Hispanic students doing clinical rotations in Hispanic-serving health care settings, Saint Elizabeth said.
William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com
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This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Saint Elizabeth University earns $200K grant. What we know
