$8 million gift from Shaughnessy family solidifies ӰƵ’s status as nurse leadership destination
The Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy will expand its impact, thanks to single largest gift in school history
When Marian K. Shaughnessy, DNP, RN (NUR ’85, ’17), wrote a proposal for a leadership academy housed at ӰƵ, she could not have envisioned the global impact her idea—and support—would have.
More than a decade later, nurse executives from around the world now come to Cleveland to sharpen skills, conduct research, drive policy and network with other senior leaders through the Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy. Today, those opportunities will multiply, thanks to an $8 million matching gift from the Shaughnessy family intended to bolster the academy’s work and support its students through scholarships.
First envisioned in 2012 as part of a class assignment in Marian Shaughnessy’s doctoral program at ӰƵ’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, the Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy launched in 2018 through a $5 million gift from Marian and her husband, Michael, and friends and family members who wanted to support their vision. Its aim was—and remains—to redefine the role of nurses in healthcare policy, solidifying their position as critical decision-makers from the bedside to the boardroom.
The academy found a physical home at the Health Education Campus of ӰƵ and Cleveland Clinic in 2021, after a $2.5 million gift from Michael and their daughters, Anne Shaughnessy-Marchetto and Kate Shaughnessy Biggar. The gift was announced on the first anniversary of Marian’s death—providing a permanent space where her impact as an educator, administrator and community leader would live on.
“The Shaughnessy family has been visionary in their solutions to strengthen nurse leadership and dedicated in bringing them to life at ӰƵ,” said President Eric W. Kaler. “Their continued commitment to the Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy serves as a lasting legacy for Marian and creates promising futures for nurse leaders pursuing academic and professional excellence.”
Building futures while making history
This latest commitment marks the single largest gift to Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing since its inception, and brings the family’s total giving to ӰƵ to more than $16 million. It also is intended to be a matching gift—spurring others to donate as the school launches a $25 million fundraising initiative to strengthen the academy’s core areas of focus: expanding access to executive-level education through scholarships, advancing research in the field and adding nurses’ voices in healthcare policy.
“This historic gift enhances the Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy and elevates the school’s role in placing nurse leadership at the center of healthcare,” said Ron Hickman, PhD, RN (CWR '00; NUR '06, '13; GRS '08, nursing), dean of Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. “The generosity of the Shaughnessy family is a transformative act of confidence in the power of nurse leaders.”
Since its inception, the academy has grown to create leadership programs such as the Shaughnessy Coldiron Senior Nurse Executive Fellowship, a 13-month cohort-based program in which 25 senior nursing executives come together to study and devise ways to make healthcare more patient-centered, cost-effective, accessible and quality-driven. Fellows now come from top healthcare institutions and academic systems across the U.S. and around the world, with recent participants from coast to coast in the United States, plus Ireland, Kenya, the Philippines, Italy and beyond.
“Seeing the reach of this program has been a really remarkable journey for us,” said Michael Shaughnessy, who has become actively involved with the academy and attends professional meetings across the country to understand challenges facing the industry. “These are nurses who are at the top of their profession, and we bring them together to deal with issues and find solutions for new crises that come up. It’s been an eye opener to see the magnitude of what can transpire.”
Michael Shaughnessy noted the exceptional reach of the program would have pleasantly surprised his late wife, a sentiment his daughters echoed.
“Our mother was dedicated to bettering her community and to advancing her profession,” Anne Shaughnessy-Marchetto and Kate Shaughnessy Biggar said in a statement. “Seeing the exceptional growth of this program, and knowing it leads to nurses with seats at the tables where critical healthcare decisions are made, would have been her ultimate goal.”
That goal was more than a decade in the making, as Marian Shaughnessy first crafted the idea for the academy in a 2012 leadership class taught by Joyce J. Fitzpatrick, PhD, RN (MGT ’92). Over the years, the two honed their ideas and the academy’s curriculum until it became an expansive program centered on developing and cultivating new and emerging leaders in the field of nursing.
The same night the historic gift was announced, the Shaughnessy family also committed to honor another legacy, with a $100,000 gift toward an endowed professorship in Fitzpatrick’s honor. Once fulfilled, the professorship would recognize a Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing faculty member who embodies the exceptional leadership skills Fitzpatrick displays daily as she guides future nurse leaders at the academy.
“With this transformative gift from the Shaughnessy family, the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy has a unique opportunity to expand our reach and chart a unique path for advancing nursing leadership locally, nationally and globally," Fitzpatrick said.
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