The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence entered into  a two-year partnership beginning in the fall of 2010 to support nine doctoral students in geriatric nursing, one at each of the nine Hartford Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence (CGNE) nationwide.  This initiative is part of the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program.

Founded in February of 2006, the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence (www.jonascenter.org) is supported by the Barbara and Donald Jonas Family Fund.  Its mission is to advance professional nursing through grant making and programs that improve nurse recruitment and retention, increase ethnic and racial diversity among the nursing workforce, advance innovative practice models, and improve practice settings in New York City.

The goal of the Jonas/Hartford Scholarship program is to increase the number of well-prepared faculty in geriatric nursing in the United States.  The Jonas Hartford Scholarship Program focuses on the development of academic leadership in gerontological nursing through:

1. strong mentorship in the components of academic geriatric nursing (research, teaching and community service),
2. leadership development,
3. a national network of scholars, fellows and academic geriatric nurses, and
4. exposure to a wide range of experts in gerontology nursing.