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Promoting Healthcare Education

Alliance Gives Back to UT Tyler

nursing lab To promote healthcare education in the region, the Smith County Medical Society Alliance recently donated $145,000 that will go toward UT Tyler scholarships to educate future healthcare professionals.

The entity regularly partners with regional higher education institutions to provide scholarship funds. This year’s funds helped establish a permanent endowment and were collected through book fair sales hosted by the alliance and the selling of their building.

“The Smith County Medical Society Alliance has been a steadfast and generous supporter of scholarships to our students for decades,” said Dr. Barbara Haas, interim dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. “This current gift expands on their legacy by increasing their endowment support to students in healthcare-related fields. We are so grateful for the SCMSA’s dedication to and their investment in the future of healthcare for our community and region.”

The impact of these scholarships can be seen throughout the region and state. Recent recipients Amber Casselberry and Morgan Click share their stories here.

Giving Back to Her Community

UT Tyler alumna Amber Casselberry of Royse City serves as an instructor at West Coast University in Dallas and a part-time RN at Baylor Lake Point Medical Center.

The SCMSA scholar was always interested in pursuing a career in healthcare and eventually wanted to teach nurses as a way to give back to her community and help with the statewide nursing shortage. Her aunt encouraged her to enter the nursing field.

“I was really impressed with the UT Tyler faculty and their teaching,” said Casselberry, who graduated in May 2018 with an MSN in nursing education. “They did a really great job preparing me as an educator and in giving me sound advice.”

Caring Nurses Nurtured Career Path

UT Tyler graduate student and 2020 SCMSA scholar Morgan Click of Dallas is a certified poison information specialist at Parkland Hospital. She is the lone person in her family in the medical field.

She decided to pursue a healthcare career while remembering positive interactions her family had with the nurses and FNPs who tended to her father as he battled Stage 3 melanoma cancer. The decision is her way to “help pay it forward.”

“It was a difficult experience for my family, but it was also an awesome experience which led me to the career path that I would eventually take,” said Click, who will graduate from UT Tyler’s MSN-FNP program in December.

Click has enjoyed the program, noting that she is being well-prepared for career success through the unique curriculum.

“UT Tyler’s program focuses on evidence-based practice,” she said. “It teaches students to look at their patients holistically, and it has taught me to look at the bigger picture. I feel UT Tyler is preparing me for career success not only in the courses, but also through clinicals as well.”

Read a Tyler Paper news article about the recent gift.

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