SON Home | UW Home | MyUW | UW Bothell | UW Tacoma | HealthLinks | Contact the School | Search SON | Internal Headlines | Briefly | From the Deans Desk A Reason to Give Alumni: Carol Purvis '62 BSN and John Purvis '59 BS Engineering The Gift: $150,000 to establish the Carol and John Purvis Endowed Fellowship, including $50,000 in UW Matching Initiative funds Who it Supports: The Carol and John Purvis Endowed Fellowship will support a graduate student in nursing. The first recipient will be selected when the fellowship is fully endowed, in 2009. The Impact: The fellowship will help encourage students to pursue advanced practice nursing and leadership roles. "There aren't enough nurses now, so think about how it will be when the baby boomers start getting old," Carol Purvis says. "There is much more to learn now than in my day, from basic knowledge to high-tech equipment to professional leadership, and student support will help more nurses complete their degrees." The Connection: Both UW alumni, Carol and John Purvis have always liked to help their community. But they can point to a time when their perspective strengthened: 1976. That's when they returned to Seattle after living in Amsterdam and London for six years with their two small children-John's job with the Boeing Co. took them there. Living overseas cultivated a particular love and respect for education and the arts, they say. Once back home, they found they wanted to support those loves. "We're in a society, and giving back is a responsibility," John says. "You have gone somewhere with your life and you give back to make sure others can do the same. You start by giving to things you have reason for giving to." For the Purvises, nursing was one way to support education and the university. But, John says, "It's not just nursing we are giving to. You get a direct payback, you are going to be old someday and you will want to have good nurses to take care of you. The only way to do that is to start now and build for the future." Says Carol: "There are so many worthy causes to give to but helping to educate more nurses, especially at the number one school of nursing in the nation, appealed greatly to me." Carol, a retired medical-surgical nurse who worked at Virginia Mason Medical Center for 16 years, feels the current nursing shortage in one way on a regular basis-long-term care facilities and home health organizations frequently try to recruit her back to work. Return to Headlines Headlines | Briefly | From the Deans Desk   Copyright © 2008 University of Washington 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, Washington 98195