Loyola Nursing Celebrates Pathway Graduates
Education
Loyola Nursing celebrates first Pathway graduates
TEN YEARS AFTER LOYOLA OPENED ARRUPE COLLEGE, In May 2024, the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing (MNSON) honored the first 12 graduates in the CARE (Collaboration, Access, Resources, and Equity) Pathway to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, which provides academic, socio-emotional, and financial support to participating undergraduates.
Launched in 2021 with a $2.2 million Health Resources and Services Administration grant, the CARE Pathway has grown from 22 to 78 students while drawing increased donor support, including a $1 million anonymous gift in 2024.
Loyola Nursing Dean Lorna Finnegan said the graduation of the first cohort marked a major milestone for MNSON, which originally envisioned the CARE Pathway as a small program for graduates of Loyola’s Arrupe College who wanted to transition to the four-year nursing program.
With support from the federal grant, the CARE Pathway was opened to all nursing undergraduates from historically marginalized communities. Today, approximately one-sixth of participants are Arrupe graduates and about half are first-generation college students.
The CARE Pathway aims to increase the diversity of the nursing workforce. Research shows that patients of color who are treated by nurses of similar backgrounds have better health outcomes, yet the nursing profession remains disproportionately white.
“The CARE Pathway was created from an idea that the nursing profession could do more for its patients and that health equity is achievable if we transform who is providing care.” Janie Ortiz, Care Pathway Grant Project Manager