HOUSTON – The University of Houston was awarded a $20 million gift from a notable alumnus this past week.
In a news release, UH stated that the transformational money was provided by Andy Gessner and his wife Barbara to “help bolster the nursing workforce amid a significant labor shortage in the profession.”
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The announcement was made during National Nurses Week and is expected to ‘strengthen nursing education and research, fund scholarships and fellowships for students, and ultimately increase the number of highly educated nurses in the workforce.’
The college has since been renamed the Andy and Barbara Gessner College of Nursing.
“We believe in nurses and we need more of them right now,” said Andy Gessner (B.B.A. ‘68). “We’re all going to need a nurse at some time in our lives, and there’s just not enough in the workforce or being educated for the future. The primary intent of our gift is to make more nurses available when we need them, now and in the future.”
“The silver tsunami is coming,” said Barbara Gessner. “We are certainly going to need more nurses as the population gets older, so the medical profession will be put to the test. It’s always been an honorable profession, and we believe in that tender, compassionate care that nurses provide.”'
To read more about their donation, visit UH.edu.