BALTIMORE, MD — (September 15, 2011) – U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) will be the featured speaker for the opening convocation of Coppin State University’s Helene Fuld School of Nursing on Friday, September 16, 2011, 12:00 P.M., in the James Weldon Johnson Auditorium. A reception honoring Representative Cummings, an avid nursing education advocate in Congress and at public forums in Maryland and throughout the country, will be held immediately following the convocation in Coppin’s Percy Julian Science Building. Citing a potential nursing shortage of “crisis” proportion looming in the U.S., Rep. Cummings recently applauded Coppin’s school of nursing “… for getting the job done…” and its “young-nurses-in-training” for their academic success and contributions to “… the well-being of the community.” “This year, Coppin State’s nursing students achieved the highest RN passing rate (on national licensing examinations) of any school in our state,” Representative Cummings noted. “…(They) are succeeding academically…often against the odds…” He cited Coppin’s Community Nursing Clinic and its service to the campus, the surrounding community, St. Francis Academy students, Wayland Baptist Church senior citizens and children at the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. Representative Cummings is a leading foe of current efforts to cut federal support of nursing education. “Cutting federal support of our nurses would be a false economy,” he said recently. “Congress needs to expand … appropriations for … Title III Nursing Workforce Development Programs …” Over the years, he has led or supported a number of projects aimed at strengthening financial funding for Coppin’s nursing program. “I am doing all that I can to help Dr. Copes and her colleagues for a very simple reason,” he said in February. “They are getting the job done.”
Referenced Article from Coppin State
