Jean Stout: Gift lasts beyond a lifetime
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Jean Stout was not a nurse herself, but she was a nursing cheerleader and champion.
Before Stout died in December 2022, the retired medical office administrator established six charitable gift annuities at the University of Illinois Foundation to establish the Jean C. Stout Nursing Scholarship to support UIC Nursing students in the PhD program.
Stout made it a tradition to establish a CGA fund each December.
Stout, who spent her career working in surgical practice and was a longtime hospice volunteer, saw the important role nurses play in caring for our population, particularly those nurses who are well prepared through education.
“Nurses are our angels on earth,” said Stout in an interview with University of Illinois Foundation before her death. “They are the ones who care for us, so it only seemed right to do something that might give a little bit back to them.”
Stout recognized the need for more nursing faculty. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 90,000 qualified applicants from nursing programs in 2021, due to insufficient number of faculty, among other reasons. She chose to target her scholarship to PhD students knowing they would go on to become educators.
“You must have the faculty to teach future nurses and address the nationwide nursing shortage,” she said in the UI Foundation interview. “Supporting students who have a desire to teach seemed like the perfect way to ensure a pipeline of talent to care for the generations to come.”
She said it made her feel good to know the gifts would “last beyond my lifetime.”