University News

Baptist Memorial Health Care formally announced a $1 million gift to the University of Memphis today, which will be distributed among three endowment funds to enhance and expand current health care-related programs at the University.

Through the BMHCC Nursing Endowment Fund, the Loewenberg School of Nursing will establish a nursing simulation laboratory, a fellowship in nursing administration and a nursing electronic library, which will provide students and faculty access to online journals, reference materials and other medical publications to assist with studies, research and ongoing professional development.

The BMHCC Audiology/Speech Language Pathology Research Endowment Fund will provide a Ph.D. research fellowship to a doctoral-level research student in the field of audiology/speech language pathology.

The BMHCC Community Health Forum Endowment Fund will create the BMHCC Community Health Forum, through which the University of Memphis will host at least one community forum each year to address issues that significantly affect the health and well-being of Mid-South residents.

"As a not-for-profit organization, our mission extends well beyond the walls of our 15 hospitals," said Beverly Jordan, vice president and chief nursing officer for Baptist Memorial Health Care. "We are so proud to partner with The University of Memphis to support its nursing and health-related programs."

Baptist's gift comes in the midst of a national nursing and health care worker shortage, some of which can be attributed to a growing need for health care faculty and fewer students entering the health care field.

"Every dollar that we make at Baptist is invested right back into the community, and this gift is evidence of that," Jordan added. "There's no better investment than in the future of our local health care students."

Baptist Memorial Health Care's community contributions totaled almost $300 million in 2004, according to the organization's most recent community report, which includes charity care, community events and corporate contributions like this gift to the University of Memphis.

Acknowledging the Baptist gift, Dr. Shirley C. Raines, president of the University of Memphis, said, "There is a growing need for professionals in all areas of health care, and the University of Memphis is engaged in education to meet those needs. This gift from Baptist Memorial Health Care will enhance the quality of education for our present students, and it will help entice more future students to enter the fields of nursing, audiology and speech-language pathology, and health care administration."

The Baptist Memorial Health Care system, which consists of 15 hospitals and 2,500 affiliated physicians across Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee, includes minor medical clinics, home health and hospice offices, behavioral health centers, and a rehabilitation network that contains about half the rehabilitation beds in the Mid-South area. Baptist has 2,577 licensed beds systemwide, employs more than 11,000 people, and has more than 83,000 admissions annually.

The University of Memphis is a metropolitan research university committed to scholarly accomplishments of its students and faculty and to the enhancement of its community. The University offers 15 bachelor's degrees in more than 50 majors and 70 concentrations, master's degrees in more than 45 subjects, and doctoral degrees in 21 disciplines, in addition to the juris doctor (law) and specialist in education degrees.

The campus is located on 1,160 acres with nearly 200 buildings at more than four sites. The average age of full-time undergraduates is 23.

The University of Memphis is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, first professional, master's, educational specialist's and doctoral degrees. Individual colleges, schools and departments are accredited by agencies appropriate to those disciplines.

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