COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (June 20, 2005) – Three Tennessee Tech University students have received a national nursing award, leaving Tennessee Tech with the highest number of recipients in the state.

Jody Barnwell of Smithville, Katie Bayne of Cookeville and Rebekah Burris of Crossville all received the Promise of Nursing Scholarship, funded by Johnson & Johnson and other national businesses and state hospitals. All three are rising seniors, and Barnwell and Bayne had also received the award for the previous academic year.

The scholarships, which are administered by the Foundation of the National Nurses Association, support nursing education in light of a projected national nursing shortage.

They were awarded to a total of seven nursing students across the state.

In the past, TTU nursing students have had outstanding academic performances, having achieved a 94 percent pass rate on the licensure exam for eight consecutive years and a 100 percent pass rate for three.

The other four scholarship recipients in the state are students at Belmont University, Tennessee Wesleyan College, University of Tennessee-Knoxville and University of Memphis. A total of 154 scholarships were awarded to students across the country.

--Tracey LeFevre
This information posted 21 June 2005