The university established the School of Nursing in 1925 as a diploma program, administered by Strong Memorial Hospital, with a baccalaureate degree offered to those enrolled who met certain academic requirements. Over sixty years later, the School established the Community Nursing Center, a nursing faculty practice that developed programs and services to meet specific community health needs. By the mid-1990’s, the Center became self-sustaining, helping to fund the School of Nursing’s initiatives.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation seeks to accelerate entrepreneurship with a vision to “increase the number of Americans who have the desire and the ability to sustain innovative enterprises.” In late 2003, the Kauffman foundation recognized the University of Rochester by awarding the School of Nursing and four other schools a $3.5 million grant, one of only eight such awards in the United States. Rochester was the first school of nursing to receive Kauffman funding. It was clear that the Foundation recognized nurse entrepreneurship as a viable and important source of innovation. The School of Nursing responded by restructuring the CNC into the Center for Nursing Entrepreneurship, and developing entrepreneurial initiatives in research, education, practice, and business. The grant helped establish the world’s first endowed faculty chair in nursing entrepreneurship, implement a School of Nursing Entrepreneurial Cluster of interdisciplinary courses, and create the School of Nursing Kauffman Entrepreneurial Leadership Master's Track, to develop nursing related business plans.
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