Recruitment, retention and matriculation of ethnic minority nursing students: a University of Mississippi School of Nursing approach

Journal of Cultural Diversity, Winter, 2003 by Audwin Fletcher, P. Renee Williams, Tracilia Beacham, Rowena W. Elliott, LaDonna Northington, Rosie Calvin, Mary Hill, Avis Haynes, Karen Winters, Sheila Davis

Abstract: According to Bednash (2000), the future of health care pivots on an adequate supply of appropriately educated and skilled professional registered nurses. Recognizing the long history of and the struggles by African-American (AA) nurses for education and equality in the nursing profession, it is essential that more African-American students be recruited, retained and matriculated into the profession of nursing. African-American nurses have always contributed to the care of the poor and the sick and played a decisive role in the improvement of the health of their communities. The Bureau of Health Professions Division of nursing (March 2000) reported that 86.6 percent of the registered nurse population were white while 12.3 percent represented racial and ethnic minority groups. Given the current racial/ethnic background of the registered nurse population in the United States, there is an obvious disparity in the representation of minorities in the nursing profession, in spite of the increasing number of minorities represented in the general population. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to document strategies that are used to actively recruit, retain, and graduate ethnic minority students from the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) School of Nursing (SON).

Key Words: African-Americans, Black, ethnic minorities, School of Nursing (SON), recruitment, retention, matriculation, and nursing faculty

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African-American (AA) nurses have a long history of contributing to the care of the poor and sick, improving the health within their communities, and advocating for those of whom they serve. Similarly, they have struggled in the fight for their own rights regarding nursing education and equality within the profession. The plight of AA nurses is echoed in the words of Shelby Steele, "Opportunity follows struggle, effort, and hard work." Hence, the plight of the AA nurse dates back to nursing pioneers such as Mary Mahoney, Martha Franklin and Adah Belle Samuels Thoms.

Mahoney was the first Black professional nurse in America (Minutes of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN), 1911). She is considered the first role model for and the matriarch of Black professional nurses. Franklin was the first nurse to actively campaign for racial, equality in nursing and was the founder, organizer, and first president of the NACGN (Minutes of the NACGN 1908). Thoms challenged the U.S. Army and the American Red Cross regarding their refusal to accept Black nurses during World War I and is credited with writing Pathfinders, the first classical text about the plight of Black nurses (Davis, 1999).

Nursing cornerstones as these have passed a rich legacy to all nurses, especially, to AA nurses. Credited with being strong proponents of a more stringent academic preparation and for raising the bar of entry-level education of all nurses, Mahoney, Franklin, and Thoms improved the quality of nursing education for Black women. In addition, these three (3) nursing leaders organized to eradicate discrimination within the nursing profession, provided leadership, and produced leaders within the ranks of Black nurses by fostering feminism, encouraging Black women to consider nursing as a career, and serving as unique representations of Black women trying to enter what had been historically coined "a White woman's world-the profession of trained nurses" (Davis, 1999). As such, the AA nursing faculty at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) School of Nursing (SON) will share strategies that are used to actively recruit, retain, and graduate ethnic minority students into the profession of nursing.

In Mississippi, there are seven (7) Bachelors of Science in nursing (BSN) degree programs, five (5) Master s of Science in nursing (MSN) degree programs, and two (2) Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) degrees in nursing programs. These programs are located in both public (state) universities and/or private colleges. Of the schools of nursing within the state of Mississippi, Alcorn State University is the only historically black college and/or university (HBCU). The schools of nursing and the degrees they offer are:

STATE UNIVERSITIES                 BSN   MSN   PhD

Alcorn State University             X     X
Delta State University              X     X
Mississippi University of Women     X     X
University of Mississippi
  Medical Center                    X     X     X
University of Southern
  Mississippi                       X     X     X

PRIVATE COLLEGES
Mississippi College                 X
William Carey College               X

Statistical data of registered nurses in Mississippi are provided in the following appendices: 1) Appendix A-gender by highest degree; 2) Appendix B-gender by race; and 3) Appendix C-position by race.

Nursing Education at UMMC SON

The UMMC SON was authorized as a baccalaureate program by an act of the Mississippi legislature in 1948. Established as a "department of nursing", the UMMC SON achieved the status of a "separate school" in 1958. Louise Barber Chambliss became the first AA female BSN graduate in 1966, and subsequently, became the first AA female faculty to be employed by the UMMC SON in 1967. Marlon Shay Beckley became the first AA male BSN graduate in 1979.