Parkersburg, W.Va. (April 4, 2022) – WVU Parkersburg’s Nursing and Health Sciences Division was awarded $690,000 through West Virginia Governor Jim Justice’s Nursing Workforce Expansion Program.

The program is designed to address the state’s nursing shortage and will fund nursing program expansion projects at colleges, universities, schools of nursing and career technical education centers across West Virginia.

With this award, the WVU Parkersburg Nursing and Health Sciences Division plans to offer an accelerated LPN to RN program. The investment is expected to support up to 20 to 30 new nursing students.

“The Nursing Workforce Expansion Grant award is a transformational opportunity for WVU Parkersburg,” said Kathy Frum, WVU Parkersburg Nursing and Health Sciences Division dean. “This grant would allow the program to provide an accelerated pathway for LPNs to complete an RN degree, increase the number of nursing students accepted into the program and support recruitment and retention efforts for qualified nursing students.”

She continued, “The grant monies will facilitate improvements to the existing ADN program. The division plans to collaborate with pipeline program for health care careers, provide excellent support for students and recruit and retain qualified nursing faculty.”

The nursing program expansion awards are administered by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and Community and Technical College System. Twenty-six funded projects across the state were announced by Gov. Justice on March 17. Approved projects were required to be focused on increasing enrollment in pre-licensure nursing programs through innovative approaches focused on timely degree completion and licensure for graduates.

“We are tremendously grateful to Gov. Justice for providing this historic funding to support the expansion of nursing education programs across West Virginia,” said Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker, West Virginia’s Chancellor of Higher Education. “Through these new projects, our postsecondary education community will be better positioned to help shore up West Virginia’s nursing workforce – which, in turn, will help support our nurses working tirelessly on the front lines right now.”

Governor Justice announced the West Virginia Nursing Workforce Expansion Program in December 2021 by dedicating $48 million to support new and expanded initiatives that will train new nurses, fully fund the West Virginia Nursing Scholarship Program, value nurses already practicing in the state, and recruit nurses into West Virginia.

“I echo the chancellor’s gratitude to Governor Justice for this funding,” said WVU Parkersburg President Dr. Chris Gilmer. “We know how transformative this programming will be for the Mid-Ohio Valley.”