SACRAMENTO — The UC Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing on March 19.

The UC Davis nursing school is named in honor of the historic $100 million philanthropic grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation — the nation’s largest grant for nursing education.

Graduates will serve as educators, researchers and leaders of health care teams that advance patient care and safety, promote health, and improve quality and access to health care in an ever-changing and increasingly complex national health-care system.

Nursing instructors needed

Nursing work force shortages in California are forecast to reach a shortfall of more than 100,000 by 2020. Yet California’s nursing schools turned away more than 20,000 applications from qualified new students last year and the greatest contributing factor was lack of faculty to teach.

The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis plans to address the faculty needs through the development of graduate-level nursing programs that would increase the state’s nursing education capacity by supplying faculty for all levels of nursing education, from community colleges to universities.

Community key

The school’s programs also aim to graduate nurse leaders for area hospitals and community-based programs.

“This is a unique opportunity for UC Davis to look at the future of health care and the health needs in our communities,” said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. “This school is being founded on the premise of transforming nursing education — changing how we teach health professionals together and how health care is delivered in our communities.”

The school’s research and education will emphasize promoting healthy people and healthy systems. Specific areas of study and research may include populations that are not currently well served, specifically ethnic minorities, rural and aging people, as well as overall leadership in improving health systems and guiding overall change.

The nursing school is to share existing facilities at the UC Davis Health System campus in Sacramento. The school would be the fourth professional nursing program in the University of California system, joining schools of nursing at UCLA and UC San Francisco, and a nursing program at UC Irvine.

Interdisciplinary focus

“This School of Nursing builds on UC Davis Health System’s strengths in research, education and practice, and provides transformative opportunities to our interdisciplinary research and educational initiatives,” said Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for Human Health Sciences for UC Davis.

Pomeroy added that the school builds on the health system’s commitment to diversity and social responsibility, “where faculty, staff and students of multiple professions and disciplines collaborate daily to confront today’s urgent problems, advancing health for all.”

Heather M. Young, the UC Davis Health System’s associate vice chancellor for nursing who will be the School of Nursing’s first dean, said: “We have an unprecedented opportunity to not just improve, but redesign health care through this visionary partnership with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

“Together, we’ll lead a transformation with long-lasting effects for generations to come.”

Young is a UC Davis alumna who graduated in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in dietetics. She later earned an associate degree in nursing from Sacramento City College, and then a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Southern Oregon State College. She then went to the University of Washington, where she received a master’s degree in nursing with a specialty in gerontology and, later, a doctorate in nursing science.

Young’s research has focused on environments that promote healthy aging, with a particular focus on the interface between family and formal health-care systems for older adults.

Fall 2010 enrollment target

The school anticipates accepting its first class for the Master of Science and the Doctor of Philosophy degree programs in fall 2010. Additional students and programs will be phased in until the school reaches full enrollment of 456 students, currently projected for 2016-17.

Richard Blum, chairman of the regents, said the establishment of a new school of nursing increases the UC’s capacity for preparing nurses and nurse faculty, while also providing a “historic opportunity to develop a new interdisciplinary education model that will pave the way for improving health in California and in the nation.”

Moore Foundation

Established in 2000, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation operates proactively in three program areas — environmental conservation, science and the San Francisco Bay Area. Its San Francisco program includes the Betty Irene Moore Nursing Initiative and support for Bay Area land protection, science and technology museums.

The Moore foundation’s donation to the School of Nursing, to be allocated over 11 years, is one of the largest in the history of UC and the largest to UC Davis. It is also the largest philanthropic contribution in the nation in support of nursing education.

The foundation has awarded more than $1.7 billion dollars in grants since its inception. For more information, visit www.moore.org or contact Chris Pallatto at Chris.Pallatto@Moore.org.

Jenny Carrick is a communications officer for the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis.