Wayne State University DNP student Jacqueline Kramer was recently selected as the recipient of the January 2023 NurseThink-American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Scholarship.

The scholarship supports students enrolled in master's and doctoral nursing programs at AACN member institutions who have a desire to become future nurse faculty, providing $5,000 awards to students twice a year through 2026. Kramer is only the third student to receive the scholarship since it was established in 2022.

AACN works to establish quality standards for nursing education; assists schools in implementing those standards; influences the nursing profession to improve health care; and promotes public support for professional nursing education, research, and practice.

“I am extremely proud to have been selected for this scholarship; it’s an honor.” said Kramer, who is pursuing her DNP in the college’s Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner-Primary Care program. “AACN’s objectives of providing a voice for nursing, improving health care and promoting nursing education align with my own goals as I work to be an agent of change in the community.”

Kramer is a full-time student but also works part-time as a community health nurse and pre/post operative nurse. Having spent time in and out of the hospital throughout her childhood, Kramer had her mind set on a nursing career from an early age.

“Sometimes, I would walk around holding the nurses’ hands as they tended to other patients,” she recalled.

Kramer left her undergraduate nursing studies at Michigan State University to take a full-time manufacturing position with Chrysler and eventually completed her bachelor’s with a business focus. She went on to earn a master’s in business administration before leaving manufacturing altogether and returning to her “first love” of nursing. 

After completing her BSN at Davenport University, Kramer began working as a nurse case manager at various metro Detroit hospitals.

“I saw firsthand the economic decline, lack of education and gaps in care that result in the health disparities we see so much of today,” she said.

It’s in this role that Kramer also learned about the Wayne State College of Nursing, as she worked closely with nurse practitioner students from WSU.

“Working in the community and seeing the needs of patients, I knew I had to return to school for my DNP,” she said. “The students I worked with were change agents who were involved in the community and spoke highly of their program, so I decided to apply.”           

Kramer aims to complete her DNP program in spring 2024. After graduation she hopes to run a mobile clinic in the Detroit community and join the faculty at the Wayne State College of Nursing.