Adelphi enters into nursing school partnership Grameen Caledonian College

Adelphi University’s College of Nursing and Public Health in Garden City has entered into an agreement with the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing (GCCN) based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Founded in 2011 by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Laureate and Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, who spoke at Adelphi on March 21 on “Creating A World of Three Zeros” (zero unemployment, zero wealth concentration and zero net carbon emissions). The event was sponsored by Adelphi’s Hagedorn Lectureship on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Yunus is considered the father of the microfinance movement, where people in need are loaned small amounts of money.

“Imagine millions of the poorest, illiterate women in Bangladesh taking tiny loans and transforming themselves into entrepreneurs,” Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, said in a statement, speaking about the ability to lift oneself out of poverty. “Everyone has this ability in them. They just need the way.”

The bank – Grameen means “rural” in Bangladesh, Yunus said – now has more than 10 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom are women, according to Adelphi. The bank boasts a 98% repayment rate.

In the nursing school partnership, the two institutions have agreed to explore exchanging faculty members and staff, sharing academic materials, offering faculty development, and jointly participating in seminars.

The partnership “signifies a new beginning for Adelphi University and the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing,” Deborah Hunt, a dean at Adelphi, said in a statement. “I believe all the stars aligned, especially when I think back to Adelphi’s 125th Gala less than a year ago when I first learned about this amazing opportunity to partner with Professor Yunus. I am grateful the seed was planted then and am looking forward to seeing where the journey takes us.”

Yunus  spoke of the potential he saw in the partnership.

“This is how it is done-you take a tiny seed and see if it will grow into a big thing,” Yunus said in a statement. “I didn’t expect dreams to come true so fast, but here I am-at Adelphi, holding our agreement, signed and sealed.”

President Christine Riordan, welcomed Yunus, his daughter Monica Yunus, co-founder of Sing For Hope, and colleagues from Grameen Creative Lab to Adelphi.

“I am excited about the possibilities of our partnership, and so pleased to work with someone as extraordinary as Professor Yunus,” Riordan said in a statement.

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