Editor’s Note: Web quality photographs of Louise Collins and Anne DeMars are available on the Web at nursing.wsu.edu/marcom/collins.htm, nursing.wsu.edu/marcom/demars.htm.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Intercollegiate College of Nursing/WSU College of Nursing graduate students M. Louise Collins, BSN, RN, CDE, and Anne M. Mason, BSN, RN, are the first recipients of two new $5,000 graduate fellowships from The Scottish Rite Scholarship Foundation of Washington. The scholarships were awarded for fall semester 2002.
The Scottish Rite Scholarship Foundation of Washington recently established the fellowships in an effort to support the nursing profession and combat the drastic effect of the nursing shortage by assisting students pursuing nursing degrees.
In addition to being a full-time student, Collins practices part-time as a professional nurse, is a Diabetes Association community volunteer and Graduate Student Society officer. She is determined to return to her hometown of Pullman as a family nurse practitioner with an additional board certification as an Advanced Diabetes Medical Manager. Collins believes her expertise in this area will benefit both healthcare providers and patients in her community.
Mason will enter the psychiatric nurse practitioner program this fall at the WSU College of Nursing Walla Walla Learning Center. Widowed at age 22 with a four-month-old child, Mason returned to college in 1998 motivated to provide for her daughter and to make a measured difference in the lives of others. Mason’s long-term goal is to teach psychiatric nursing and have a clinical practice specializing in serving people dealing with grief and loss. Psychiatric specialty care is lacking in rural areas, especially Walla Walla where the community is currently served by one half-time psychiatrist.
Mason is the president of the Walla Walla Parent Cooperative Preschool and assists with formulation of school curriculum. She recently delivered a presentation titled “The Role of Single Parenthood and the Challenges of Returning to School” at the Walla Walla Children’s Forum.
The Scottish Rite Scholarship Foundation of Washington, an independent scholarship fund supported by the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, awarded more than $195,000 in academic scholarships in 2001.
Established in 1968, the Intercollegiate College of Nursing/WSU College of Nursing is the nation’s first, oldest and most comprehensive nursing education consortium. The College of Nursing offers baccalaureate, graduate and professional development course work to nursing students enrolled through its four consortium partners, Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, Washington State University and Whitworth College. Each year, the College educates more than 600 graduate and upper-division undergraduate students and prepares more entry-level nurses than any other educational institution in the state. For more information about the Intercollegiate College of Nursing/WSU College of Nursing, visit the college Web site at nursing.wsu.edu.
