Two University of Virginia graduate nursing students recently were named Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence in Healthcare Scholars, a distinction that comes with a $10,000 scholarship from the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare and a matching $10,000 grant from U.Va.’s School of Nursing.

Doctoral student Karen Moss, of Charlottesville, and Doctor of Nursing Practice student Alex Wolf, of St. Louis, will each receive funds to cover tuition and leadership development expenses through 2016.

After U.Va.’s School of Nursing was named a grantee by the Jonas Foundation, Moss and Wolf were chosen for the scholarship by their faculty advisers, Karen Rose and Ken White, as well as program directors Dorothy Tullman and Christine Kennedy and admissions dean Clay Hysell.

“Karen and Alex embody the best of the best of our nursing graduate students,” Kennedy said, “and their work and this scholarship is a nod to the nation’s real need for more nurse scholars with advanced degrees who can lead in academics as well as at the point of care. I salute them both.”

“As more hospitals grow to understand the strength, poise and experience of advanced-practice nurses as well as the need for nursing academics to guide efforts in research and best practices, it’s edifying that students like Karen and Alex are being recognized,” added Dorrie Fontaine, dean of the School of Nursing since 2008. “We are grateful to the Jonas family for supporting their stellar work and know that together, we’re fortifying the next generation of nurses and nursing scholars who will have a profound impact on patient care and nursing education.”

The Jonas Scholars program, begun by Barbara and Donald Jonas in 2006 and based in New York City, aims to improve health care through nursing, offering grants to advance nursing scholarship, leadership, innovation and collaboration.

In 2014, the Jonas Scholars program supports 150 Ph.D. scholars and 100 D.N.P. scholars, including Moss and Wolf. All told, there are nearly 600 Jonas Scholars across the U.S.