Graduates of the proposed Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing will serve as educators, researchers and leaders of health care teams. (UC Davis Health System/photo)
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Fact sheet
About the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing
The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the University of California, Davis, is intended to foster nursing excellence through a comprehensive educational model that incorporates scientific rigor and immersive, inter-professional training for its students.
Plans call for the school to be headed by nurse leaders and an accomplished group of faculty and administrators from nursing, medicine, management and other disciplines. The model is designed to provide a comprehensive educational opportunity that couples academic rigor common to both nursing and medicine, with interdisciplinary training opportunities in basic sciences, humanities, public health, business administration and information technology.
Graduates of the proposed Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing will serve as educators, researchers and leaders of health care teams that advance patient care and safety, prevent and treat disease, and improve quality and access to health care in an ever-changing and increasingly complex national health care system.
- Professional nursing degrees will be granted at the doctorate, masters, and bachelor’s degree levels.
- When full enrollment is reached in all degree programs, the school is projected to serve 456 students.
- Scholarships, stipends and forgivable loans will be available for qualified students and posted on UC Davis’ Web site once the program has been fully developed.
- The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing will become the sixth professional school at the University of California, Davis, joining nationally-recognized programs in medicine, veterinary medicine, law, business and education, and a proposed School of Public Health.
The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing will have four core attributes:
- Curriculum intensity and interdisciplinary team training
- Scientific rigor and research emphasis
- Technology, including telemedicine and healthcare management
- Leadership training in partnership with the UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Establishment of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation will provide a commitment of $100 million over the next 11 years.
Beyond the launching grant to initiate the program, the school is projected to receive state support within the same funding formulas as applied to all other University of California nursing schools.
A mix of public funding and philanthropic support from other donors — including individuals, foundations and corporations — will be required to realize the long-term vision.
UC Davis has begun seeking the required approvals of the UC Davis Academic Senate, the UC Office of the President, the University of California Board of Regents, the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the Board of Registered Nursing, and other entities.
- Pending successful completion of the approval processes, the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis anticipates admitting its first students in masters and doctorate programs in the fall of 2009. The bachelor’s of science in nursing program is expected to launch in 2010 or 2011.
- The school will be located on the Sacramento campus of UC Davis, sharing facilities with the UC Davis Health System.
- The health system currently encompasses the 1,200-student UC Davis School of Medicine, a 577-bed acute care hospital with a level I trauma center and regional burn unit, National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, comprehensive children’s hospital, a nationally renowned Center for Health and Technology, a Family Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant training program, and many other teaching, research and patient care programs.
- The administrative offices of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing will be located in the Education Building at Y and 45th streets in the heart of the Sacramento campus.
- The school will be integrated into the University of California system, the nation’s largest health science training program with 12,000 students.
California’s current nurse education needs
- California currently has 119 initial registered nurse licensure programs in nursing, according to a 2007 report of the Board of Registered Nursing. There are 31 baccalaureate degree, 16 master’s and 83 associate degree initial licensure nursing programs in California state universities, community colleges, and private institutions, including three UC campuses: UCSF, UCLA and UC Irvine.
- A feature of the growing shortage of Registered Nurses is the inability of schools to increase student positions due to a nursing school faculty shortage.
- The vacancy rate of faculty positions in California and the nation is growing each year and is currently 8-10 percent according to a 2006 survey by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)
- The new Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing will begin with programs that prepare nurses at the graduate level, in part, to address this growing nursing school faculty shortage.
About the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Established in 2000, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation operates proactively in three specific Program areas — Environmental Conservation, Science, and the San Francisco Bay Area — where a significant and measurable impact can be achieved.
Distinct initiatives under each program employ a portfolio of grants and other activities to achieve targeted, large-scale outcomes. Achievement at this scale requires strong partnerships with communities, government entities, other nonprofit organizations, and the private sector.
The Foundation’s Environmental Conservation Program includes the Andes Amazon, Marine Conservation, and Wild Salmon Ecosystems Initiatives, and its commitment to Conservation International.
Its Science Program includes its Marine Microbiology Initiative and its commitment to California Institute of Technology.
Its San Francisco Bay Area Program includes the Betty Irene Moore Nursing Initiative and support for Bay Area land protection and science and technology museums.
The Foundation has awarded over $1.3 billion dollars in grants since its inception through 2006.
For more information, visit www.moore.org.
About the University of California, Davis
UC Davis, which will celebrate its centennial in 2008, is one of the nation’s top public research universities, with a tradition of service to the region, the nation and the world.
UC Davis is a pioneer in interdisciplinary problem-solving, and its four colleges, five professional schools, more than 100 academic majors and 86 graduate programs provide a comprehensive, rigorous and research-based learning environment for students, faculty and researchers.
The 30,000-student university has its main campus in the Sacramento Valley, near the state capital and San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.ucdavis.edu.