Nurse education, practice, quality and retention - workforce expansion program - project title: appalachian nurse: increasing the nursing workforce for acute and long-term care in rural, underserved…

Clemson University received a $3.75 million Project Grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Health Professionals under the Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR) Grants program (CFDA 93.359) to expand the nursing workforce in rural, medically underserved Appalachian South Carolina. Awarded on September 30, 2025, with a four-year project period through September 29, 2029, the "Appalachian Nurse" initiative will graduate 30 financially supported nursing students (15 associate degree and 15 bachelor degree candidates) and enhance clinical faculty and preceptor capacity through academic-clinical partnerships between Clemson University School of Nursing, Prisma Health System, and Tri-County Technical College (TCTC). The project delivers specialized acute and long-term care (LTC) training encompassing an additional 80 hours of instruction in topics including genetics/genomics, palliative care, geriatric frailty, and culturally competent care addressing social determinants of health in rural populations.

Under this award, TCTC serves as a sub-grantee performing evaluation functions through its Institutional Advancement Division, contributing 10% effort to support the Joint Project Advisory Committee. TCTC will evaluate project goals and objectives, analyze evaluation components informing the academic-practice collaborative agreement, and assess indicators from the Rapid Continuous Quality Improvement (RCQI) process, with particular focus on associate degree nursing didactic, clinical, and simulation learning needs, reporting directly to the Project Director.

Nurse education, practice, quality and retention - workforce expansion program - project title: appalachian nurse: increasing the nursing workforce for acute and long-term care in rural, underserved appalachian, SC applicant organization name: clemson university address: clemson university nursing building, 605 grove road, greenville, SC 29605 project director: lucia gonzales PHD, MSN, MBA, NP-C, agpcnp-BC, chse contact: (864) 656-9569 (OFFICE)