Foundation Spotlight – December 2025

The Foundation for Academic Nursing continues to grow and expand its role in advancing AACN’s vision and mission by providing financial support to its member schools and their faculty and students.

This academic year, the Foundation is offering eight sponsored scholarship programs and will distribute 37 scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 to an array of students. The number of scholarship opportunities offered through the Foundation continues to grow, thanks to the support of very generous sponsors and donors. In addition, the number of completed applications received by the Foundation is increasing significantly, demonstrating the growing need for scholarship support among students.

The Foundation also offers support to nursing faculty at AACN member schools through the Faculty Scholars Grant Program, which showcases innovative ways of educating nursing students in a changing landscape. In early November, the Foundation announced its sixth round of grant recipients with two $25,000 grants awarded. This year’s grant themes were Integrating Health Policy into the Nursing Curriculum and Using Artificial Intelligence in Nursing Education (sponsored by Wolters Kluwer). The number of completed applications continues to grow year over year with a record 147 applications received from faculty nationwide.

Since 2020, the Foundation has distributed $300,000 to 14 nurse educators through the Faculty Scholars Grant Program. Once their work is completed, each recipient presents an AACN webinar on the findings from their work. On-demand webinars and other information about past recipients are available on the Faculty Scholars Grant page. Grant recipients have also had abstracts accepted at Transform and other conferences. To further disseminate their work, a few of the grant recipients have made their work freely available for use by other nursing faculty. For example, Dr. Laurie Kennedy-Malone developed simulation modules with her grant funding and has made them available here. Applications for the 2026 Faculty Scholars Grant will open during Nurses’ Week and will close in early August.

AACN is currently seeking corporate donors to support the work of nurse educators by sponsoring a Faculty Scholars Grant. Those considering this opportunity to advance innovation in nursing education and build the science base for nursing practice are encouraged to contact Foundation Director, Dr. Katie Fioravanti, at kfioravanti@aacnnursing.org.

To support the work of the Foundation and its mission, please consider making a gift and showing your support for academic nursing by clicking here.