Title:$25M gift renames, expands School of Nursing

Thanks to a $25 million gift from the Berkley Family Foundation, the School of Nursing will be renamed the Georgetown University Berkley School of Nursing this fall, marking a significant milestone in the university’s 122 years of educating nurses.

The Berkley family’s gift will create opportunities to expand enrollment, reduce financial barriers for students, enhance technology, strengthen faculty, and advance student success and well-being, says Roberta Waite, dean of the School of Nursing.

“This is a transformative gift, and we are very humbled,” Waite shares. “The Berkley family understands the need for graduating more nurses and the impact that nursing has on promoting the health and wellness of individuals, families, and communities.”

A commitment to health

“Two generations of our family have a shared love and appreciation for Georgetown University,” says W. Robert Berkley Jr. (B’95). “We have always maintained an interest in both education and health care, and the opportunity to support the School of Nursing is a natural intersection of both interests.”

Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., executive vice president for health sciences at Georgetown University Medical Center, says this latest gift will advance the medical center’s mission of cura personalis, or care of the whole person.

“This special family has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to bringing hope and healing to people in need by supporting the growth and diversity of nurse leaders and practitioners,” adds Beauchamp.

Addressing critical nursing vacancies

A cornerstone of the gift is the Berkley Endowed Scholarship Fund, which benefits students who are pursuing a second degree to enter nursing through the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program.

“Finances can be an enormous issue for people who might discover their passion for nursing later in their career,” Waite says. “A lot of these individuals are interested in working at the bedside in acute care settings, so if we can create an accessible pathway for them by offsetting and alleviating the burden of the cost of tuition, it’s really a win-win scenario.”

Waite also notes the “ripple effect” in investing in later career students.

“What’s so impactful is that we know many of those individuals will go back to live and practice within their own communities,” she adds.

Investing in faculty and technology

Faculty excellence is another pillar of the Berkley family’s gift, which establishes endowed professorship and associate professorship funds.

“Endowed professorships are critical to attracting the highest caliber faculty who are also aligned with our values,” Waite says.

In addition, the gift will invest in technology to advance virtual reality capabilities in the O’Neill Family Foundation Clinical Simulation Center which enables students to practice clinical and communication skills in a controlled, simulated environment.

“Technology is really what will move the needle in terms of enhancing the experience of our in-person students as well as those who are learning virtually or in a hybrid setting,” she explains.

Promoting student well-being and new opportunities

The gift also establishes the Berkley Endowed Student Success and Wellbeing Fund, which will provide resources like tutoring, mentoring, stress management, and resilience skills to support students’ mental health.

“Supporting our students with tools that can help them be proactive in mitigating stress is critical for them to care for themselves and promote their own well-being now and throughout their nursing career,” Waite says.

In addition, students will be able to pursue emerging opportunities through the Berkley family’s Endowed Dean’s Fund for Strategic Initiatives and Nursing Excellence.

“We’re at a point now where we have a more sophisticated foundation—our structure, our people, our understanding—and there’s real momentum building at the nursing school,” she says. “We’re developing new academic pathways, certificate programs, and refreshing our existing offerings. In this environment of rapid innovation, flexibility becomes essential. The Berkley family’s gift represents a significant recognition of nursing’s importance in health care and in the future. I am most grateful to the Berkley family for their trust in Georgetown and I am genuinely excited for the path ahead.”