Stephen F. Austin State University

Nursing students from Stephen F. Austin State University visited legislators in March for the 2007 Nurse Day at the Capitol. Students, from left, Chad Burch, Monika Brindley, Genna Glenz, Glory Staffield, and Brook Jasa accompanied faculty members Laura Logan and Debbie Ellisor to attend events sponsored by the Texas Nurses Association. The students and their instructors met with legislators to express their support for funding for nursing education, school nurses and heath programs, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. According to Ellisor, Texas expects a shortage of 27,000 registered nurses by 2010, and 11,000 applicants were turned away from Texas nursing schools last year due to lack of faculty and facilities. The enrollment in SFA’s School of Nursing has tripled since 2000, and the university has recently received a $1.4 million gift of land and facilities from the Richard and Lucy DeWitt family of Nacogdoches.