Through all the seasons of life, Susan Buhr, BSN'91, RN, ACM, has been able to count on her nursing degree. In the early years, working as a bedside nurse allowed her to save for the purchase of her first home. When she wanted to explore the corporate world, it provided the clinical experience to lead quality and population health improvement initiatives in the insurance industry. And now later in life as she prepares for retirement, nursing has allowed her to reconnect with patients working part-time as a case management nurse.
“There are a lot of things you can do with a nursing career that feed different times of your life,” said Susan, who graduated from the IU School of Nursing in 1991. “My nursing degree has been very good to me.”
Benefiting firsthand from the lifelong value of a nursing education, Susan, along with her husband, Randy, are including a gift to the IU School of Nursing in their estate plan. The couple is creating an endowed scholarship fund to support students from Indiana enrolled in either the BSN or Accelerated BSN programs.
Both Susan and Randy were blessed to graduate from college without any student loans. Randy earned degrees from the University of Illinois and The Ohio State University. They started talking about endowing a scholarship more than 10 years ago and look forward to being a blessing to others.
“Instead of a one-time donation, we thought it would be more of a legacy to do something in perpetuity that could help lots of people,” Susan explained. “We’re giving back because we realize that we were blessed in ways that some students aren’t—college is different now, and the cost of higher education can be a barrier for many to attend.”
For the scholarship that will bear their name, the Buhrs have decided that while grades will be considered, recipients won’t have to be straight-A students.
“I have never felt that a nursing student needs to have a perfect GPA to be a great nurse," Susan said. “I think there are a lot of students who are clinically driven with good grades and would excel at nursing if they have the financial assistance to go to a school like IU.”
In addition to offering financial support, Susan believes she and Randy are providing nursing students the added benefit of career opportunity, flexibility and choices that will last a lifetime.
“When I tell young nurses about all of the jobs I’ve had where I’ve used my experience as a nurse, I always stress that you don’t have to change fields or careers to try something new,” she said. “There are many ways you can use a nursing degree."
