GSLIS Edition - Simmons College

giving
Gift Addresses Nursing Shortage,
Promotes Diversity
BY LEAH ROTHSCHILD EGGERS
Phyllis Nickerson Dotson ’62 and her husband, George Dotson
Phyllis Nickerson Dotson ’62 and her
husband, George, describe giving as
one of life’s pleasures. “There’s constant
gratification that you have given
back and you have honored an institution
like Simmons. Part of your legacy
is the life you live, and we want our
children to know that this is the kind of
life we live,” Phyllis Dotson said.
The Dotsons’ recent $2 million gift
to the Simmons nursing department
addresses the nationwide shortage of
nurses by seeking to correct racial and
ethnic disparities in the nursing profession.
The Phyllis Nickerson Dotson ’62
and George S. Dotson Fund for Academic
Excellence will launch a tutoring
program for nursing students. Through
academic support and mentoring from
faculty and multidisciplinary experts,
the program will strengthen efforts to
attract and retain ethnically and culturally
diverse students. The fund also will
enhance the technology infrastructure
of the nursing labs.
“The Dotsons are generous supporters,”
said Judy Beal, associate dean of
the School of Health Sciences (SHS)
and chair of the department of nursing.
“This gift enables us to develop a
stronger, more ethnically and culturally
diverse pipeline of nursing candidates.”
As a nursing student at Simmons,
Dotson says she learned organizational
skills and how to be more compassionate
— skills that helped her and her
family tremendously when their young
son died in 1978 after being diagnosed
with cancer.
Dotson has since worked to ease the
burdens of seriously ill children and
their families. She helped establish the
Tulsa (Okla.) Ronald McDonald House,
and she created the Pediatric Volunteer
Program at Tulsa’s St. John Medical
Center. She has worked with other
organizations including the Mental
Health Association and Domestic
Violence Intervention Services in Tulsa,
as well as the Tulsa Library and the
Junior League of Tulsa. Today she also
is a leadership volunteer in Tulsa for St.
Simeon’s Episcopal Home, an assistedliving
community.
“I don’t know that there’s any organization
with which we deal that has the
same personal touch and the ability to
communicate our participation and
our role that Simmons has,” George
Dotson said. “All of those things go
together to make participation with
Simmons a real treat for our family. It’s
never a task or a chore. It’s always a
real memorable experience. I say that,
having never attended a class or spent
a day at Simmons College; I got the
best of a Simmons education by walking
away with one of your graduates!”
Phyllis Dotson says this gift is a
vote of confidence in the SHS and the
College’s leadership.
“Anything we can do to help with the
future plans of Simmons, financially,
in our small way, is important. We wish
President Drinan and the faculty much
success and we look forward to many
trips back to campus,” she said. “When
you see your money well-spent and the
impact that it has made, you want to
give again.”
2007–2008 Report
of Gifts
Thank you to our 1899 Society and
John Simmons Society members,
whose generous support helped
us raise more than $10 million for
Simmons during this past fi scal year.
Please turn to page 49 to view the Annual
Report of Philanthropy. For a full
donor list, please visit www.alumnet.
simmons.edu/annual report
26 simmons alumnet.simmons.edu