Georgetown University will rename its School of Nursing (SON) the Berkley School of Nursing in Fall 2025 in honor of the Berkley Family Foundation’s $25 million donation to the SON, the university announced May 12.
The donation will help expand enrollment, scholarships, programs and resources, including mentorship programs and support systems for students. The donors — including William Berkley and his son W. Robert Berkley Jr. (GSB ’95) — are longtime contributors to the university, establishing the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, which researches interreligious and international issues, in 2006.
Robert Berkley said the donation aims to help train the next generation of nurses.
“Part of the Georgetown mission statement is serving society, and one would be hard pressed to find a more noble vocation than nursing,” Robert Berkley said in the university’s press release. “Our goal with this gift is to provide resources to the university in trying to address societal challenges. Clearly a shortage of nurses nationwide is a societal issue.”
The donation will also create endowed professorship funds, support new technology resources and fund an accelerated bachelor of science in nursing (ABSN) program for students pursuing a second degree.
SON Dean Roberta Waite said the donation will help nursing students support their communities after graduation.
“What’s so impactful is that we know many of those individuals will go back and live and practice within their own communities,” Waite said in the university’s announcement. “So as we’re able to capture a broader and more diverse range of people, they can offer a glimpse of what nursing can be to people within their own circles and communities.”
Waite said the donation’s scholarship support is particularly important because nurses face significant financial barriers, particularly in the ABSN program.
“Finances can be an enormous issue for people who might discover their passion for nursing later in their career and wish to obtain a second degree,” Waite said. “A lot of these individuals are interested in working at the bedside in acute care settings, so if we can create an accessible pathway for them by offsetting and alleviating the burden of the cost of tuition, it’s really a win-win scenario. The Berkley family gift is reducing that burden.”
Kaitlyn DeLucia (SON ’27) — incoming co-chair of the Nursing Academic Council, which represents SON undergraduates to the university — said the donation will support students as they begin careers in nursing.
“As one of the smallest schools at Georgetown, we’re very excited to see the impact that this gift will have on each individual student and their education,” DeLucia told The Hoya. “We are excited to use this gift to improve our technology and other resources that will help set up these students for success as with their future careers as nurses.”
Interim university President Robert M. Groves said in an email to Georgetown community members that the Berkley family’s support demonstrates the success of the SON and its leadership.
“This moment also reflects the extraordinary work of dean Roberta Waite, our faculty, and our staff who have worked to build on the School’s foundation of academic excellence, rigorous clinical education, and values-based leadership,” Groves wrote in the email. “With this gift, the school will be able to increase the number of nurses who graduate from Georgetown prepared to lead, to serve, and to meet the challenges of a complex and evolving health care landscape.”
Waite said the donation will help SON graduates lead impactful lives as community leaders.
“This is a transformative gift, and we are very humbled,” Waite said. “The Berkley family understands the need for graduating more nurses and the impact that nursing has on promoting the health and wellness of individuals, families and communities.”
“This gift honors the importance of our work in the formation of students, and shaping leaders, in a values-based environment like Georgetown,” Waite added.