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The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University October 24, 2005 | Vol. 35 No. 8
 
SoN Receives Two Major Gifts for Building

Addition to facility will house SoN and Bioethics Institute

By Lynn Schultz-Writsel
School of Nursing

Two well-known philanthropic organizations — the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation and the France-Merrick Foundation — have made pledges that reaffirm their continuing commitment to the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

According to Martha N. Hill, dean of the school, the two gifts of $5 million each now bring the total funds raised for an addition to the School of Nursing building to nearly $15 million.

"These foundations continue to be vital and steadfast partners in helping us to develop the 21st-century Hopkins brand of nursing and to address the critical nationwide nursing shortage," Hill said. Their commitment and those of others, she said, will be "instrumental in positioning us as a global leader in nursing excellence. The additional space will translate to enhanced programs, more faculty and more opportunities to educate those who will set this century's standards of nursing excellence."

The school's Anne M. Pinkard Building opened in January 1998 as the first structure on the East Baltimore campus dedicated solely to nursing education at Johns Hopkins. The proposed addition, two-thirds of which will be occupied by the School of Nursing and one-third by the Phoebe R. Berman Bioethics Institute, is scheduled to open in 2009 and will cost an estimated $26 million.

Walter D. Pinkard Jr., chair of the school's National Advisory Council, a member of The Johns Hopkins University board of trustees and president of the France-Merrick board of directors, said he sees the addition to the building as key to maintaining the school's prominence.

"That beautiful building played an important role in moving the school to its current prominence and top national rankings, but today it has reached capacity and the school is beginning to feel the structural limitations. With the addition," he said, "nursing education at Hopkins will continue to be conducted in an environment of excellence and innovation."

The two foundation gifts are part of the Johns Hopkins: Knowledge for the World campaign. Commitments to the campaign have reached nearly $1.9 billion toward a $2 billion goal. Priorities of the campaign, which benefits both The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, include strengthening endowment for student aid and faculty support; advancing research, academic and clinical initiatives; and building and upgrading facilities on all campuses. The campaign began in July 2000 and is scheduled to end in 2007.

The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation was established in 1975 by E. Rhodes Carpenter, founder of the Carpenter Co., a firm that manufactures and distributes polyurethane products such as mattresses and pillows, and Leona Bowman Carpenter, a 1939 alumna who spent many years in public health nursing, including several as an instructor at Johns Hopkins.

The France-Merrick Foundation was created in 1998 when the Jacob and Annita France Foundation and the Robert G. and Anne M. Merrick Foundation were merged. The foundation concentrates its grant making primarily within the greater Baltimore area and in the areas of education, community development, historic preservation and conservation, and civic and cultural affairs.

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