Philanthropist Bill Conway to address nursing school groundbreaking

Philanthropist William E. “Bill” Conway Jr. will be the keynote speaker for this fall’s groundbreaking ceremony of the UNC School of Nursing’s new Nursing Education Building.

The event will be held at 3 p.m. Oct. 25 at The Blue Zone at Kenan Stadium, followed by a reception and school-wide expo of student and faculty activities. The celebration is free and open to the public, and all are welcome to attend.

Conway is the co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group and one of the leading philanthropists supporting nursing education in the United States. Conway and his wife, Joanne, who died earlier this year, made a $5 million commitment to Carolina Nursing in spring 2023 through their Bedford Falls Foundation. It was the largest gift in the school’s history dedicated to student support.

With this investment, the school established the Conway Scholars program, which, for a period of five years, more than doubles the amount of annual scholarship funding available for the school’s baccalaureate program. The gift will also fund an accelerated doctoral program designed to feed the pipeline of nurse educators at a time when the nation faces not only a critical shortage of nurses, but a critical shortage of those needed to teach them. In its inaugural year, the program supports 51 students. Over the next five years, the Conway Scholars Program will support many more nursing students, alleviating some of the financial barriers that stand in the way of their education.

Rendering of the new Nursing Education Building
William E. Conway Jr.

Prominent Washington, D.C.-area philanthropists and supporters of nursing education, the Conways committed more than $300 million to nursing schools over the past decade, placing them among the largest philanthropic supporters of nurses and nursing education in the nation. This gift last March was the Conways’ first to a North Carolina school.

“We are so grateful to be able to feature Mr. Conway as our keynote speaker at the groundbreaking. His and Joanne’s visionary philanthropy and their profound impact on nursing education are as singular and instructive as they are inspiring,” said Valerie Howard, dean of the School of Nursing. “He will bring a unique perspective on the rationale for and privileges of supporting our great profession and the students who enter it.”

The Nursing Education Building is the long-awaited new 110,000 square-foot facility that will replace the outdated 1969 wing of Carrington Hall, half of the school’s current home. The building will increase the school’s overall space by 20,000 square feet. It will provide a modern structure complete with the latest technologies to better prepare students for the modern health care environment and to allow for current and future program expansion and more innovative learning opportunities.

Like the Conways’ gift, the new building is essential to the school’s plans to admit and educate more students, eventually expanding enrollment by 50% by 2026, and means more Carolina Nurses entering the workforce to provide quality, compassionate care on the frontlines of health care systems.

Register to attend the groundbreaking ceremony.