SON Home | UW Home | MyUW | UW Bothell | UW Tacoma | HealthLinks | Contact the School | Search SON | Internal Headlines | Briefly | From the Deans Desk Giving Back - Wake-up Call Alumni: Ellery and Kirby Cramer '62 MBA The Gift: $250,000 to establish the Ellery and Kirby Cramer Endowed Professorship in Nursing Who it Supports: The Ellery and Kirby Cramer Endowed Professorship in Nursing will support a faculty member, either existing or recruited, who has demonstrated nursing leadership. The professorship will be awarded later this year. The Impact: The professorship lets the school attract or keep an outstanding teacher and mentor for its students. "I hope that more and more people will do this and realize the lasting impact that a professorship has on the school," says Ellery Cramer. "The fine teaching and support by the teachers is what makes the school work." The Connection: Kirby Cramer earned his MBA from the UW in the early '60s, shortly after he and his wife Ellery graduated from Northwestern University. Ellery Cramer, the daughter of a small-town Montana doctor, considered a career in medicine-she was one of only five women studying pre-med at Northwestern in the late 1950s. She chose to start a family and teach high school biology over becoming a pediatrician, but health care has always been close to her heart. "As a child I could always remember my dad saying he didn't know what he would do without the nurses," Ellery says. "Now I am reading so much about the shortage of nurses all over the country and that came back to me-nurses are so critical." After raising their four children in Virginia, the Cramers returned to Seattle in 1987. Kirby expanded his career as a professional corporate director, using his expertise in venture financing and strategic planning to steer companies to profitability. Longtime supporters of the UW and the health care community, the Cramers see a need that they can help address. Ellery has volunteered with health care organizations over her lifetime, and Kirby has served on numerous corporate boards, many of them health care-related. "We have a wake-up call in this country," Ellery says. "There is a tremendous need for people in the field of nursing and fields related to it. We are very happy to support this effort through the School of Nursing at the University of Washington." Return to Headlines Headlines | Briefly | From the Deans Desk   Copyright © 2008 University of Washington 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, Washington 98195