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Russell Sage College Receives $810,000 Gift from Julia O. Wells Memorial Education Foundation to Support Future Nurses

Russell Sage College announced that it has received $810,000 from the Julia O. Wells Memorial Education Foundation, Inc. to support future nurses and preserve the legacy of Julia O. Wells, as the foundation dissolves and distributes its remaining assets. Five educational institutions in the greater region will receive the funds, and Russell Sage has been awarded the largest share.

“For over a century, Russell Sage has graduated standout nurses in the field, who are deeply caring, research-informed, and leaders in their workplaces and communities,” said Russell Sage President Matthew Shaftel. “As U.S. healthcare demands more nurses to meet the needs of an aging population, the support of the Julia O. Wells Memorial Education Foundation will empower students to enter this fulfilling career without letting their financial situation dampen their dreams.”

Russell Sage has over 650 students enrolled in its nursing programs, from the bachelor’s degree to the master’s and doctoral level. The foundation has supported many Russell Sage nursing students since its inception.

This $810,000 gift will provide immediate support and sustained funding for many years to come:

A total of $750,000 will be used to establish Julia O. Wells Memorial Education Foundation Endowed Scholarship Fund for nursing students, generating annual scholarship awards in perpetuity.

The remaining $60,000 will be used to establish an immediate-use nursing scholarship fund. This will be distributed over the next three academic years, providing vital student aid right away while the endowment grows to maturity.

In alignment with the foundation’s core mission of “growing nurses,” scholarships will be highly flexible to accommodate the diverse needs of today’s nursing students. Funds will cover tuition, room, board, books, and fees for undergraduate or graduate students who are enrolled either full time or part time in a nursing major and are in good academic standing.

Board members of the foundation, many of whom joined the board as a way to give back for foundation scholarships that helped launch their own nursing careers, say they’re always touched by the thank you letters scholarship recipients write.

“Many of them would talk about going back to school and having families and how difficult it was balancing all those things, even financially, and by receiving a Julia O. Wells scholarship didn’t only make it easier, it made it possible,” said Christine Danielsen, a foundation board member who earned her master’s degree in nursing at Russell Sage with the foundation’s support. “We’re quite proud of the purpose of our foundation. It’s been a thrill for me and a real privilege to be able to participate after I got so much from Julia O. Wells.”

The foundation has awarded just shy of $5 million in funding to high school and college students over the years – a total of more than 4,800 nursing careers launched.The funds are not the result of new money fundraised over the years, but the smartly invested funds of its original donor.

“I love putting my head down at night and knowing we made a positive difference. Where else could you be on a board like this and gather with amazing people, and give money away to help grow nurses? It’s a wonderful thing,” said Kathleen Santarcangelo, president of the foundation, who earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degree at Russell Sage.

Dissolving the foundation and dispersing its funds has been “bittersweet,” she said. The foundation’s board is growing older, and members felt the sustainable way forward in preserving Julia O. Wells’ legacy and the mission of growing nurses was to leave the work in the hands of educational institutions like Russell Sage, which could steward endowed funds as they’d continue to grow over time.

The other institutions receiving funds are SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Maria College, Empire State University, and Excelsior University.

The roots of the foundation trace back to Julia O. Wells, a 1918 graduate of the Memorial Hospital Training School for Nurses in Albany, New York.

After graduating, Wells dedicated her life to nursing, serving as a night supervisor at Memorial Hospital, an office nurse in Albany, an obstetrical supervisor in Brooklyn, and an occupational health nurse at a New York City bank. Following a relocation to California and a substantial inheritance from her family, Wells reached out to her former Albany physician to leave a lasting gift to the Albany Memorial Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association.

In 1988, the Alumnae Association officially incorporated the Julia O. Wells Memorial Education Foundation, Inc. as an independent entity dedicated exclusively to advancing the vital profession of nursing through academic education.

“On behalf of the Russell Sage Nursing Department, I want to extend our deepest gratitude to the board of directors of the Julia O. Wells Memorial Education Foundation for their decades of partnership, their visionary generosity, and their enduring commitment to growing nurses who will change the face of healthcare,” said Glenda B. Kelman, Ph.D., RN, ACNP-BC, professor and chair of the Russell Sage Nursing Department. “These funds will enable our students, who come from all backgrounds, to pursue their very important dream of becoming a nurse and making communities healthier places to live and work.”