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GALVESTON, Texas—To combat a growing shortage of health care professionals
in the Victoria and Wharton areas, the M.G. and Lillie A. Johnson Foundation
has contributed $100,000 to the University of Texas Medical Branch at
Galveston (UTMB) to establish scholarships that will train clinical
laboratory scientists in these two
Southeast Texas communities.
The M.G. and Lillie A. Johnson
Foundation Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to
Victoria College and Wharton County Junior College graduates with an
associate’s degree in medical laboratory technology who are seeking a
four-year degree through UTMB’s distance education program. The scholarships
will serve as loans that will be forgiven upon graduation. Funds will cover
books, computer equipment, fees, tuition and transportation for occasional
trips to UTMB for practical laboratory study. Three to five students are
projected to receive full or partial scholarships each year.
In 1999, the Department of
Clinical Laboratory Sciences in UTMB’s School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS)
also received a U.S. Department of Education grant totaling $1.1 million to
establish Web-based clinical laboratory sciences classes.
The vacancy rate for clinical
laboratory scientists in the
Victoria
area is 30 percent higher than the national vacancy rate, according to a
recent UTMB clinical laboratory sciences survey. UTMB’s program allows
students to take baccalaureate-level clinical laboratory sciences courses
online, participating in interactive discussions and chat sessions, online
testing and interactive laboratories that feature video and graphics while
remaining in their hometowns to work and study. By completing their studies
while remaining in their hometowns, recipients of the Johnson Foundation
scholarship are more likely to continue working in local hospitals and
clinics after graduation, helping to address the shortage of area
professionals in the clinical laboratory sciences field.
UTMB’s
agreement with community colleges across the state, including Victoria
College and Wharton County Junior College, will allow students to complete
their four-year degrees through SAHS within an efficient time frame and also
to transfer credits to fulfill undergraduate course requirements at UTMB.
Graduates
with bachelor’s degrees in clinical laboratory sciences play vital roles in
diagnosing illnesses by processing patients’ medical tests so that
diagnostic health care professionals can make timely medical decisions.
Clinical laboratory scientists also examine unclear medical test results and
work with nurses, physicians and other health care providers to ensure the
tests’ validity. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report indicates an additional
93,000 clinical laboratory scientists will be needed by 2008 to serve an
aging population nationwide. The field is promising for well-trained
professionals, with starting salaries averaging around $40,000.
Dr. Vicki S.
Freeman, chair of the Clinical Laboratory Sciences Department in SAHS, said
the scholarships are crucial for the continued education of many Wharton-
and Victoria-area students seeking bachelor’s degrees. “The Johnson
Foundation Scholarship Program will make it possible for students who
otherwise would find it a financial challenge to obtain their baccalaureate
degree in clinical laboratory sciences and to practice in their home
communities upon graduation. We really appreciate the opportunity to work
with the Johnson Foundation in this endeavor,” she said.
To apply for
the Johnson Foundation scholarship, visit online at
www.sahs.utmb.edu/cls or contact Leonce H. Thierry, scholarship
committee chair; Anne Bettinger, admissions and recruitment chair; or
Freeman at (409) 772-3055.
The Johnson Foundation was
created in 1958 by the late Marshall G. and Lillie A. Johnson of Wharton.
Over the years, the Johnson Foundation has given more than $50 million in
grants to qualifying charities, primarily for health care and higher
education. |