“This is a joyous occasion that we like to celebrate with our donors, faculty, Board of Visitors and students,” said College of Nursing Dean Barbara K. Redman.

                                                                                                     (pictured: Greta L. Krapohl, Dean Barbara Redman, Carlos Shelton)

Scholarships totaling $125,000 were awarded and several donors had the opportunity to meet the recipients of their generosityand explain their motivation for helping nursing students.  Four scholarships were given for the first time: the Vernice Davis Anthony Endowed Scholarship, the Army Nurse Corps Association Scholarship, the Baker Family Endowed Scholarship, and the Alberta Dixon Wilkerson Endowed Scholarship.

 

The Vernice Davis Anthony Endowed Scholarship was created by the Wayne State University Board of Governors to honor Anthony’s service on the Board. An alumna of the College of Nursing, Anthony is retired chief executive officer of the Great Detroit Area Health Council. Margaret McCasey received the scholarship in Anthony’s name.

 

The Baker Family Endowed Scholarship was established by Wayne Baker, a Wayne State liberal arts and business school alumna, who was administrative assistant to former College of Nursing Dean Margaret Shetland from 1967 to 1986.  This scholarship honors both the late dean’s service to the nursing community and Baker’s mother.  The 2012 recipient is Julia Kerekes.

 

Greta Krapohl, a retired U.S. Army nurse, presented a scholarship from the Army Nurse Corps Association to Carlos Shelton, an M.S.N. student.  After earning an associate’s degree in nursing, Shelton was an Army nurse in Iraq and earned a B.S.N. from the University of Phoenix. Since completing his tour of duty, Shelton has worked for an orthopedics group affiliated with Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital and plans to continue in orthopedics following graduation.

 

Members of the Army Nurse Corps Association (ANCA) are retired Army nurses who donate funds for nursing scholarships to service veterans at colleges and universities across the country.  This was the first year that a Wayne State College of Nursing student was chosen to receive an ANCA scholarship.

 

Veronica Wilkerson-Johnson presented a scholarship named in memory of her mother, Alberta Dixon Wilkerson, to Ph.D. student Ericka Brunson-Gillespie. “My mother was a nurse pioneer from Georgia who had an interest in holistic medicine,” Wilkerson-Johnson said.  “She was the first college graduate in her family and worked for 40 years in Michigan, starting at Detroit Receiving Hospital.  She was a Wayne State and University of Michigan alumnus and served as adjunct faculty.  My mother wanted to leave a legacy in nursing, and she would be so proud of Erika.”

 

Brunson-Gillespie has a special interest in increasing organ donation among minority populations and plans to seek a position involving advocacy for organ donation following graduation.  “Increasing organ donation requires communication that takes into account patients’ different cultures and religions,” she said.  “It starts with critical care nurses and an understanding that there is something to give to the next generation.”