UT Tyler Awarded More Than $2 Million THECB Grant

July 1, 2025 | Elizabeth Wingfield

Funds to support School of Nursing faculty and student retention

The University of Texas at Tyler was awarded $2,182,970 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to fund a project led by Dr. Barbara K. Haas, School of Nursing dean, and Dr. Margaret Ruelle, School of Nursing associate dean for student affairs. The GEAR UP project aims to grow, educate and retain university professional nursing faculty and students. 

According to Texas Health and Human Services, by 2032, there will be a projected shortage of 57,012 registered nurses and 12,572 licensed vocational nurses, with the largest demand in the inpatient hospital settings. 

“Investing in the well-being of our nursing students and faculty is an investment in the future of health care,” said Haas. “The new wellness lab and faculty development initiatives will create an environment where students can thrive, faculty can excel and ultimately, patient care can improve across Texas.” 

The project will improve the retention of both nursing students and faculty by developing a wellness lab in the school, offering students access to exercise, wellness education and peer engagement to combat stress and anxiety. The project will also increase opportunities for faculty members to seek additional education and wellness resources. With both faculty and students at risk for burnout, prioritizing physical and mental health is a necessity. 

“We’ve found that nurses who had poor health before employment struggle to meet demands in a clinical setting and are more likely to burnout,” said Ruelle. “We want to tackle these problems at the root—even before they start working as professionals. We need to focus on equipping our students to take care of themselves, so they’ll be better prepared to take care of East Texas.” 

For more information, visit uttyler.edu/nursing or email nursing@uttyler.edu.  

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 10,000 students. Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.