The University of Houston will announce a multimillion-dollar gift to its College of Nursing that will help bolster the nursing workforce amid a significant labor shortage in the profession. The college will officially be renamed in honor of the donors.

The University will host a celebration event on Monday, May 8 at 10 a.m. at UH at Sugar Land during National Nurses Week (May 6-12). The gift will strengthen nursing education and research, fund scholarships and fellowships for students, and ultimately help add highly educated nurses to the front lines of the health care system.

A lack of educators and faculty in the field of nursing, limited clinical placements, an increase in the demand for care of the aging population and a high nurse turnover rate following the COVID-19 pandemic are among the reasons for the long-running nationwide nursing shortage. The projected shortage of registered nurses in Texas is expected to increase from over 29,000 to more than 57,000 by 2032, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Gift donors; Renu Khator, University of Houston president; Kathryn Tart, founding dean of the UH College of Nursing; UH faculty, staff and nursing students, health care industry employers, elected officials will present the gift on Monday, May 8 at 10 a.m. at UH at Sugar Land, Brazos Hall, 14004 University Blvd, Sugar Land, TX 77479.