WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has approved a federal competitive grant for $350,000 to Frontier Nursing University (FNU), a non-profit school in Leslie County, Kentucky. The Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship grant, will help increase nursing education opportunities and extend scholarships for FNU students.

In addition, this funding would be used to develop academic-practice partnership models for clinical training in an effort to better prepare nurses to navigate the ever-evolving healthcare system.

Earlier this year, Senator McConnell contacted HHS on behalf of FNU in support of this federal competitive grant. “This funding will allow Frontier Nursing University to provide important educational training resources to its students who in turn, upon graduation, will help Kentuckians in need,” Senator McConnell said. “I was proud to work with FNU to help secure this critical funding. This is a positive development for a university which graduates a large number of nurses who now practice in medically underserved and rural areas and with this funding, will continue to do so.”

Julie Marfell, Dean of Nursing and Program Director said, “We truly appreciate Senator McConnell's support as this funding will help our students while they are completing their clinical practicum. Our students really appreciate the financial support and so does the entire FNU community, which spans beyond Leslie County to the areas where our accredited distance-education programs exist statewide.”