Why I give: Dr. Jane Bolin

Jane Bolin, PhD, JD, BSN, is passionate about health care policy and practice. The former associate dean for research and current Regents Professor and senior professor at the Texas A&M University School of Nursing hopes a scholarship fund she created can help nurses better influence one of the nation’s largest industries.

Bolin established the Bolin Doctoral Education Dissertation and Research Scholarship through the Texas A&M Foundation with a $25,000 gift, earmarking the entire award from her selection as a Regents Professor in 2020. The scholarship fund, which will be given annually to students in the School of Nursing’s current Doctor of Nursing Practice program and future PhD program, is open for additional philanthropic support.

A doctorate in fields related to health care and nursing, Bolin believes, best positions nurses to have maximum leadership and policy impact in shaping the future of health care at all levels.

“Gift giving has always been my love language. I try to show support for others I care about, especially those who are working hard. There are not enough doctorally trained nurses nationally or in Texas to help train and lead the next generation as well as fill influential positions that badly need our presence,” Bolin said. “Oftentimes, nurses are not at the table in state and national agencies, policy committees and research leadership positions. Nurses need to feel comfortable expressing their collective voice.”

The school welcomed the first cohort of students in its new DNP program in the fall of 2022. More than 30 students are enrolled in the program, which was designed to accommodate working nurses. Graduates are equipped to serve in leadership roles as practice-oriented nurse scientists.

As a Tier 1 research institution, Texas A&M is also working to establish a PhD in nursing and provide nurses with more options for engaging in state- and national-level research and leadership. Students in that program would also be eligible for the scholarship.

Bolin’s career itself is a handbook for how to influence health care. A nurse, attorney and health researcher, she became the school’s associate dean for research in 2018 while holding a dual appointment as deputy director of the Southwest Rural Health Research Center at the School of Public Health, a position she still holds.

Her leadership was transformational. The school’s sponsored funding activity expenditures grew from $300,000 in 2018 to more than $4 million in 2022. Bolin, still deeply involved in scholarship at the school since stepping down from administration and into a senior professor role last year, is perhaps best known for efforts to mentor junior faculty, and help facilitate interprofessional research activities among nursing and other health science experts. Projects and programs led or influenced by her have addressed rural and minority health disparities, chronic diseases, cancer and more.

Bolin joined Texas A&M in 2001 in the School of Public Health. She held a joint faculty appointment in public health and nursing before taking over nursing’s research enterprise.

“I wanted to give back to Texas A&M,” Bolin said. “This university has been very good to me as a faculty member.”

Bolin’s scholarship is one of several at the school initiated and sustained by faculty members and administrators past and present, but all can benefit from additional support.

For donors wishing to make an impact on the future of health care, backing nursing is a sure bet. Nurses make up the largest component of the health care workforce and one of the largest segments of the U.S. workforce, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

“Dr. Bolin’s inspiring generosity is helping nurses enhance their essential role in health care,” said Patty Rabel ‘80, senior director of development for nursing at the Texas A&M Foundation. “Others who recognize the importance of having doctorally trained nurses are invited to support this important scholarship fund.”

For more information on how to give to this scholarship, visit give.am/BolinDoctoralScholarship.