William Carey receives $7M Asbury grant to boost programs, salaries in health services
William Carey University has been making some recent changes in the College of Health Sciences to improve the quality of education and training for its students with the help of a $7 million grant from the Asbury Foundation of Hattiesburg.
"The grant is a phenomenal example of the Asbury Foundation’s willingness to act to change health care in our area,” WCU President Ben Burnett said in a news release.
The Asbury Foundation has awarded grants to non-profit community organizations that offer education and health initiatives to improve the quality of life in the Hattiesburg area for 40 years. The foundation serves Forrest, Lamar, Jones, Marion, Covington, Perry, Pearl River and Jefferson Davis counties.
The grant money will go toward improving pay and other amenities to attract and retain high-quality faculty in the College of Health Sciences, which includes the Osteopathic Medicine program, School of Nursing and School of Pharmacy, in addition to a number of degree programs
“This will enable us to provide faculty salaries that are more equitable when compared to the salaries of health care providers in clinical areas, like hospitals and clinics,” Janet Williams, WCU vice president of health sciences, said in an email.
The university already has been able to make a number of improvements, including hiring new faculty members in the nursing program and implementing the LPN Advanced Placement program, which started in the fall trimester. More than 100 new students enrolled at WCU because of the new program.
“This increase in enrollment will place more nurses at bedsides in our communities," Burnett said.
Another new nursing program is planned for the spring trimester.
“We just want to be a small part of providing more well-trained health care professionals in southern Mississippi,” said Dr. William Ray said, Asbury Foundation’s president and chief executive officer.
Ray is also the namesake of the William K. Ray College of Health Sciences, which opened in 2021. The new building was erected to house the university's health program in Hattiesburg, after an EF3 tornado in 2017 destroyed many of the former buildings on campus.
Under Ray’s leadership, the Asbury Foundation was among the first donors to offer support after the tornado, the university said on its website.
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This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Asbury Foundation awards $7 million to WCU College of Health Sciences
