St Joseph's College receives $2M gift for innovative nursing center

Photo / Saint Joseph's College Jeanne Donlevy Arnold, a 1983 St. Joseph's graduate who received an honorary doctorate of public service in 2017, announced her $2 million gift to the college's Center for Nursing Innovation at Saturday's commencement ceremony.

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By Staff

A $2 million gift announced at Saint Joseph’s College’s commencement Saturday will help the college address critical shortages in the nursing workforce in Maine and across the country.

Jeanne Donlevy Arnold, a 1983 St. Joseph’s graduate who received an honorary doctorate of public service in 2017, announced her gift to the college’s Center for Nursing Innovation during a ceremony attended by 671 graduating students from four countries and 37 states, their families and friends and staff at the college’s Standish campus on Sebago Lake.

It is the largest capital gift by an individual in the college’s 105-year history and advances the college’s ambitious plan announced in January to address two interrelated challenges: The aging of Maine's nursing workforce, with 43% being at or approaching retirement age, and the more pronounced aging demographic among nursing educators, with 74% reaching retirement age.

“Over 30 years ago, I received a bachelor of science degree in professional arts from Saint Joseph’s,” Arnold said in a news release. “It was a degree I pursued to help advance my career in nursing. At the time, I was a new assistant director of nursing and I knew that having a bachelor of science degree would provide opportunities for advancement. Those opportunities turned out to be transformative and beyond all my expectations.I am proud of how Saint Joseph’s College set my life on a new course so many years ago.”

Gift advances Center for Nursing Innovation

In January, when the Harold Alfond Foundation announced its lead challenge grant of $1.5 million to support Saint Joseph’s College’s ambitious plan for a Center for Nursing Innovation, Donlevy, the retired senior vice president of Good Samaritan Hospital, agreed to serve as campaign chair and lead the effort to raise $3.5 million in matching funds.

The Jeanne Donlevy Arnold Center for Nursing Innovation will address the national health care industry’s need for educational programs for nurses, on-campus and online. The center will offer:

Five simulation laboratories (hospital and home-care settings).
$1 million in scholarships for Maine nursing students.
New advising offices for student and faculty meetings, a conference room, and a student collaborative learning space.
Renovation, enhancement and development of new anatomy and physiology, and microbiology labs used by nursing majors.

“Saint Joseph’s College is deeply grateful for Jeanne and Ed Arnold’s support of our mission and strategic plans,” President James Dlugos said in a release. “ In recognizing this as a historic and transformative gift, the center will be named The Jeanne Donlevy Arnold Center for Nursing Innovation.”