Moon Township, Pa. -- Ann Linguiti Pron, a student in of Robert Morris University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice Completion Program, was recently awarded the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) AfterCollege Scholarship.

Pron completed her application for the AACN AfterCollege Scholarship in July, citing her goal in pursuing the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. “I want to be prepared to teach the DNP nurse practitioner students of the future,” said Pron. “This scholarship will enable me to expand my teaching focus to assist the next generation of advanced practice nurses.”

AACN scholarships are awarded to select graduate and undergraduate nursing students who demonstrate strong scholarship and leadership skills. The AACN AfterCollege Scholarship is the result of a joint collaboration between AACN and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Pron is resident of Philadelphia, where she works as a pediatric nurse practitioner in a nurse-managed health center and an assistant professor of nursing at Temple University. She is part of a cohort of 31 students who hope to graduate from RMU’s DNP Completion Program in January 2011.

The DNP Completion Program is designed for advanced practice nurses who have a master’s degree, and consists of distance learning and on-campus work.

“The quality of our students is moving our program into the national spotlight,” said Judith Kaufmann, the director of RMU’s DNP program. “We are extremely proud of Ann and all of our students who represent the high standards of our DNP program.”