Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing

Hunter College of the City University of New York today announced the establishment of the Evelyn Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program at Hunter College, created by a new $52 million gift from Leonard A. Lauder in honor of his late wife Evelyn Lauder, a proud Hunter College High School and Hunter College alumna, who graduated from the College in 1958. The gift, the largest in Hunter’s history, comes at a time when the nation is suffering from an acute primary care shortage exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and nurse practitioners (NPs) are widely recognized as the key to helping Americans, especially the underserved, get the care they need. This game-changing donation is the largest-ever philanthropic gift to a single CUNY school.

The gift will significantly enhance the current nurse practitioner master’s degree program at New York City’s largest public nursing school. The new Evelyn Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program will feature substantial financial support for a cohort of 25 students per year who are committed to practicing in New York City’s under-resourced communities. It will also provide additional faculty, state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and an expanded curriculum to the benefit of the wider NP student body.