TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Approximately 25 University of Alabama Capstone College of Nursing students will benefit from $46,000 in scholarships awarded to the College by the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation.

Recipients have been selected based on academic accomplishments and financial need. The scholarships, for both entering freshmen and current students, are for the 2003-2004 academic year.

The Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation is a Georgia not-for-profit corporation.
The Foundation devotes most of its resources to its scholarship program.

Awards are made to accredited educational institutions in the nine Southeastern states and fund scholarships for the education of women. More than 200 institutions participate annually in the Lettie Pate Whitehead scholarship program. Thousands of women receive financial assistance each year in individual amounts determined by the recipient institutions.

While most of the Lettie Pate Whitehead scholarships go toward undergraduate higher education, the Foundation maintains a special interest in nursing education. A small number of its scholarship grants support education in the medical, nursing and allied health care fields.

Born in 1872, the former Letitia Pate married Joseph Brown Whitehead. Near the turn of the century, he and an associate secured an exclusive contract from the Coca-Cola Company to bottle and sell the drink. After her husband's death in 1906, Whitehead immediately assumed responsibility for the family's business affairs, and became one of the first women to serve on the board of directors of a major American corporation, serving as director of The Coca-Cola Company for almost 20 years beginning in 1934.

Her youngest son, Conkey Pate Whitehead, provided in his will for the creation of the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation as a memorial to his mother.

The Capstone College of Nursing, founded in 1976, graduates approximately 100 nurses a year from its baccalaureate program. Its graduate program for nurse case managers is one of the most innovative in the country. Partnerships with many of Alabama’s community colleges make obtaining a bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing a realistic goal for registered nurses. With more than 600 students and 28 faculty, the College supplies RNs and nurse case managers to many Alabama health care facilities and others throughout the United States. The College also runs a primary care clinic in rural Alabama to provide care for rural patients and rural learning experiences for students.